


I Never Can Relax

by otherscott



Series: EXO Strip Club AU (scau) [1]
Category: EXO (Band), VIXX
Genre: Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, College, Fluff and Smut, Kyuhyun is the older brother for lolz, M/M, Marijuana, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Rimming, Smut, Strippers & Strip Clubs, Threesome, Threesome - M/M/M, strip club au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2018-03-02 19:47:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 142,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2823914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/otherscott/pseuds/otherscott
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jongdae is a college student trying to make some money cleaning up messes backstage at a gay strip club. He meets a patron who unloads his problems on him over drinks, and Jongdae is too nice not to take care of him. His life becomes a lot more exciting and unnecessarily complicated when one of his coworkers starts showing interest in him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. jongdae meets a drunk patron

**Author's Note:**

> LOL HI GUYS I DON'T KNOW WHY I'M WRITING THIS
> 
> my friends and i came up with another random AU in which exo + a lot of other kpop guys work in a gay strip club together l o l  
> (i feel like everyone has a strip club AU somewhere in their head just to be as slutty as possible tbh)  
> this wasn't meant to be a chaptered thing but...then i got a lot of ideas and it just exploded.
> 
> so i will try to update this as soon as possible. i need another chaptered fic to help me write again ahahah.  
> so~~ in this~~ jongdae is a twenty-one year old college student who is making ends meet by working backstage at a gay strip club  
> most of the other members of exo are strippers there and they will be making frequent appearances in this lol
> 
> there~ might~ (read: probably) be~ suchen, and there might~ be~ chenlay 8D  
> and of course, every possible pairing in between. one of the reasons i want to write this is to see how many pairings i can go through LOL.  
> so i hope you like those two pairings because they (might~) will be the main two ones wahaha.
> 
> fluff, smut, and maybe some drama to follow. enjoy!

Jongdae was sweeping sequins off of the floor of the backstage area on a Monday night, thinking about the homework he had to complete when he got home. Most of the time his hours spent working at the strip club weren’t a big deal, he was pretty good at getting his work done, but he had a project for Computer Science that he hadn’t really...started yet. He looked at the prompt before heading off to work, and then mostly forgot about it instead of coming up with a presentation topic while cleaning out the bathroom.

He saw a lot more vomit today than he had ever wanted to, and just thinking about it made him queasy. Some of the patrons of the bar needed to learn what their limits were, because as long as they were puking in the bathrooms, Jongdae would have to clean it up. He tried to refocus on the glittery sequins on the floor, thinking about all the money he would make at the end of the week. It was a modest amount, but still something, and since this was his first job ever he was pretty enamored with it, even if he hadn’t told his parents about it yet. They thought he was working as a waiter in the Italian restaurant that was down the street from his actual place of work, and he was content to let them think this for as long as he could manage it.

A gay strip club was probably not where his parents wanted him to be making money, he thought as he swept the sequins into a pile. He had only come out to them last year, and he still wasn’t entirely sure how they felt about it. At least he wasn’t a stripper, he could keep telling himself. He was just in charge of clean-up duty.

Jongdae looked around for his dustpan and found it leaning up against the wall, and he knelt down and started to sweep up the debris when he saw a patron stumble through the stage door’s dark red curtains on drunk feet. Jongdae knelt there for a while, watching the young man walk around seemingly in search of something, and then realized that this person could be dangerous. He dropped the dustpan and grasped his broom in his hand tightly, walking over and trying to muster up an air of authority.

“Hey, excuse me, can I help you?” He asked cordially, and he gave the man a smile when he raised his eyes to him. This young man’s clothes were rumpled and gray, but they looked like they were made of a fabric Jongdae had never felt before. His dark hair was styled up with some sort of hair gel that seemed to be giving up after a long night, and when the man raised an eyebrow Jongdae thought he recognized his face. Wasn’t this guy a regular? One of the vaguely creepy guys who had favorite dancers and shoved half of their paychecks down the flimsy clothes the dancers wore. The man waved his hand at himself and looked around.

“Yeah, aaah, uhm, I spilled my drink, can I get some napkins?” He asked, motioning vaguely at a dark wet spot on the side of his pants leg, and Jongdae nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll get those for you.” Jongdae swallowed and looked around, not entirely sure of where to get napkins backstage. He looked around one of the dancers’ vanities and found a roll of paper towels, and picked it up and brought it back to the man. “Is this okay?”

“Yes, thank you.” Jongdae watched the man clean himself without looking at his leg, instead his eyes reflecting the neon lights above the mirrors across the room. Jongdae smiled nervously and looked around. He was glad the dancers weren’t here, and he wasn’t totally sure why this man was lingering. Jongdae watched as the man took a few steps closer to the vanity chairs.

“Is this where the dancers get ready?” He started fussing around with some bottles of hair product on one of the counters and Jongdae almost went over to push his hands away. “Like their little offices? Woh,” he mused, sounding drunk. Jongdae swallowed and gripped at his broom.

“Yeah. I’m sorry, sir, I don’t know if I should be allowing you back here.” Jongdae said, and the man looked back at him swiftly, and then immediately turned to look at himself in the mirror. Jongdae watched him looking at himself, and swallowed hard. He looked maybe around Jongdae’s age, possibly even a little bit younger, but that wouldn’t make sense. Jongdae had just recently turned 21 and you had to be 21 to even get into the building.

“Do you work here?” The man asked suddenly, and Jongdae snorted. It’s not like he had just brought him paper towels or anything. Jongdae had grown an appreciation for drunk people in his three months working at the club. Usually they weren’t surly, just stupid and occasionally depressing. He could handle that.

“Yes, I do.”

“I haven’t seen you around,” the man stopped looking at himself in the mirror and turned around, giving Jongdae a quizzical look, and Jongdae pursed his lips.

“I only really clean up back here. Run around setting costumes, washing clothes, that kind of stuff.”

“Don’t dance?”

Jongdae laughed out loud at the thought. “No, no, I don’t.”

“Nnh.” The young man clicked his teeth softly and Jongdae really couldn’t tell how old he was. For some reason Jongdae got the feeling he might be underage, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. He was too cowardly to tell on someone. He tried to force another smile.

“Can I ask you to go back out to the floor, since you’re all clean now? Do you need me to come to your table and mop up anything?”

“Whaaat? No, no, I just spilled on myself.” The young man gave him a goofy smile. “I’m stupid sometimes. I ruined my pants. Whatever.” He raised both hands to wipe at his face and Jongdae didn’t really know what he was witnessing. The young man dropped his hands and stared at Jongdae with big, clear eyes. “Is Hakyeon here tonight? I haven’t seen him around.”

“Uhm.” Jongdae thought about it. He was pretty sure Hakyeon was off tonight. He almost smirked at the random request, usually people were more interested in seeing Minseok or the new young guy Kai. But he figured any attention Hakyeon was getting was well-deserved. “I don’t think so, I don’t think he works tonight.”

“Damnit.” The young man put his hands on his face again and made a muffled sound, and then pulled his hands away as if he was trying to compose himself. “Alright. If you see him-- if he’s here-- can you tell him I looked for him? My name’s Junmyeon. He gave me his phone number but I think I put it in wrong, I was pretty drunk, I keep texting and he’s not responding.” He cleared his throat and made a noise that Jongdae thought sounded like a noise his father would make.

Jongdae nodded at him. “Yeah, I can pass that on.” Jongdae didn’t know that Hakyeon was giving out his number to patrons, and thought that was kind of weird. That was the sort of sleazy thing that maybe Tao would do, not someone who appeared as put-together as Hakyeon. Hakyeon might’ve given this guy a fake number. They would laugh about it later. Junmyeon reached for Jongdae’s hand and grabbed at it in both of his in a thank you, and Jongdae jumped a little at how sweaty it felt.

“Thanks, thank you so much. Thank you. God, you’re cute. Why don’t you perform? Thanks,” Junmyeon rambled for a bit, and then suddenly turned on his heel and wandered back in the direction he wandered in from. Jongdae stood there holding on to his broom and staring at the door, and then laughed out loud again. The idea of him dancing was ridiculous.

He brought the paper towels back to the vanity he found them on and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked sober and tired and like he had to wake up at 7 in the morning to go to Chemistry. He wiped his hands off on his jeans and smiled again at the thought of stripping. Drunk people were weird.

 

 


	2. jongdae makes a new friend

The next night at work Jongdae was sitting at Tao’s empty vanity, looking at his phone with his legs crossed in front of him. He hadn’t had a lot of work to do all day, which is something he was thankful for; since he had only half finished his Computer Science project. But working on that was not at all something he felt like doing, so he had resigned to scrolling through Instagram and listening to Hakyeon and Yixing talk to each other a couple seats away.

When Jongdae glanced over at the two of them, his eyes lingered on Yixing’s bare collarbones. Yixing tended to walk around backstage in as little clothing as possible, which was something Jongdae didn’t mind. Working at a gay strip club had its perks, and he had as much eye candy as his little heart could take. Yixing was shirtless tonight, wearing a little pair of tight blue boxer briefs that left little to the imagination, and Jongdae let himself stare since Yixing seemed to be absorbed in his conversation.

Jongdae didn’t know how the dancers kept themselves from getting erections when they were up onstage, because he thought that if he simply put on an outfit like that he’d get rock hard fast as anything. He had watched a couple dances - he tried not to, it felt kind of weird, but sometimes they were entertaining, and the club had a lot of dancers who were willing to put on a spectacle. He had seen a few of the new guys get hard, which turned out to be sexier than he had imagined it would be.

He had never seen Yixing get hard before, however, he thought as his eyes refused to move from Yixing’s crotch. Maybe Yixing had been working there for so long it didn’t turn him on anymore. Jongdae couldn’t tell if that was a sad existence or not. He heard Hakyeon raising his voice about something and shocked back to reality, trying to go unnoticed from his ogling.

“She’s scratching up and down my couch and it’s pissing me off!” Hakyeon started yelling, and Jongdae moved his eyes to him, clicking the button on his phone to turn it off. “I’m not going to declaw her, that’s fucking mean. But I don’t have the money to just go out and get another couch right now.” He groaned. “It’s such a nice couch.”

“I remember that couch,” Yixing said slowly, sitting on the back of his chair and putting his feet on the seat, balancing carefully. His eyes were a little droopy, as if he was some combination of tired and high, and Jongdae figured that was true. “It is a nice couch.”

“Thank you! Gosh! So I’m mad that Yasmin’s just ripping it up!” Jongdae watched Hakyeon apply some sort of eyeshadow to his face while he complained. He smiled at how roughly Hakyeon was doing it, but he had watched Hakyeon beat his face like this so many times before that he knew it was just how Hakyeon did it.

“Maybe you could get one of those scratching post things, and put catnip on it or something so she gets interested in it,” Yixing suggested, looking at Hakyeon through his reflection in the mirror, and Hakyeon stopped putting makeup on for a moment.

“Do you think that’ll work?” He asked, and when Yixing didn’t respond after a while Hakyeon kept putting his makeup on.

“Yeah, I think so,” Yixing replied after a weirdly long pause.

“I can...I can go out and do that tomorrow,” Hakyeon said resignedly, and Yixing smiled a little bit as he climbed down from his chair and walked over to his vanity. He picked up his phone and started prodding at it, and Jongdae stared at his ass for a moment before looking up at his face. He wanted to say something, but couldn’t think of anything. Yixing had always appeared intimidating to him, even though Yixing was pretty nice and fun to be around.

“Hakyeon,” Jongdae spoke up instead, his eyes darting over to Hakyeon’s vanity. Hakyeon grunted at him in response, and then made a higher-pitched sound as he sat away from his mirror and put his brush down.

“What’s up, babe?”

“I forgot to tell you earlier, there was someone back here looking for you last night.” Jongdae told him, and he watched Hakyeon blink at himself in the mirror.

“Who was it? Do they work here?”

“No, he was a patron. I’ve seen him around a few times.” Jongdae raised his free hand to rub at his temple, closing his eyes for a moment. “Shit, he told me his name, but I can’t remember now.”

Hakyeon turned around to face him and shot him the exasperated look he was famous for, raising his upper lip and furrowing his brow. “Was it Junmyeon?”

Jongdae laughed once at the look alone, and then nodded. “Yeah, that was it. Why do you say it like that?”

“What did he want?”

“He just asked if you were working, I told him you weren’t here and he lost interest. Wait, that wasn’t it,” Jongdae thought aloud, and Yixing laughed softly at him. “He said he was trying to text you but you weren’t responding.” Jongdae laughed shortly. “Did you give him a wrong number? Hakyeon, that’s not niiice.”

Hakyeon laughed out loud. “I actually didn’t, I’ve just been ignoring his texts. Is that more or less mean?”

“Hah! I’m not sure. I didn’t know you gave your number out to patrons,” Jongdae said, dropping his voice for no particular reason, and Hakyeon snorted, but the sound was still attractive.

“I usually don’t. I don’t do that kind of business. But Junmyeon wouldn’t leave me alone, and he likes to see me a lot.” Hakyeon sighed. “Couldn’t help it.”

“Is he creepy?”

“Did he seem creepy to you?” Hakyeon looked at Jongdae, and Jongdae stared back at him for a moment before shrugging.

“Not really, just kind of drunk.”

“Yeah, that’s all I think of him, too.” Hakyeon turned back to his mirror and made a move like he was going to pick up his makeup brush again, but stopped.

“But you sleep with him anyway? I guess to make money for your couch.”

Hakyeon made a strangled sound and turned around to shoot Jongdae a look. “Yahh, I’m not that kind of girl! Jongdae, don’t say that.” Jongdae laughed at Hakyeon’s outrage as Hakyeon kept talking. “He just likes to spend time with me, I don’t even know. Sometimes he wants me to do things for him. A lot of the time _he_ wants to do things to me.” Hakyeon cleared his throat. “He pays well and he’s harmless.”

“Alright. Be careful,” Jongdae said, looking back at his phone. He didn’t want Hakyeon to get involved in anything illegal, even though he was pretty sure a lot of the dancers here partook in that kind of business. It was just part of their job. Hakyeon got up from his vanity and walked towards Jongdae, lifting a hand to ruffle his hair as he walked past him.

“You’re sweet,” Hakyeon told him before leaving the room. Jongdae smirked a little, and swiped around his phone to open a game app when he heard someone calling his name from outside the stage door curtains.

“Jongdae!” The curtains flew aside in a flourish, and Jaehwan appeared in the doorway. He gave Jongdae a cheesy smile when he saw him. “Jongdae,” he repeated when he saw Jongdae sitting there, and Jongdae sat up a bit in his chair, looking away from his phone.

“What’s up?” Jongdae wasn’t used to Jaehwan paying attention to him, since he was usually busy making drinks at the bar. He didn’t think Jaehwan was standoffish, though, just in high demand.

“Are you busy right now? Chanyeol spilled a martini behind the bar and it’s messy.” Jaehwan moved his arms from side to side as he spoke, as if he were a plane, and Jongdae smiled at him, getting out of his chair and moving over to the small closet that was his domain. He opened the door and looked around at all his cleaning supplies, and pulled out the mop bucket.

“I got it, I’ll be right there.”

“Thank you so much,” Jaehwan grinned again, and then left out of the curtains. Jongdae checked the water in the mop bucket - it was...okay. It would work. He rolled it out and gave Yixing a little smile before leaving, but Yixing wasn’t paying attention to him.

There was a performance going on and Jongdae found himself a little distracted by it. He watched Minseok up on stage grinding and writhing around, and swallowed. Minseok was older and didn’t say a lot when he was backstage, so Jongdae didn’t really know him. He was somewhat of a mystery. Jongdae rolled his mop bucket over to the bar and grinned at Chanyeol when he arrived. “Hey, where’s the spill?”

“Ahh, Jongdae, bless you.” Chanyeol had both of his hands busy on different beer taps, and kicked his foot in the direction of the vodka on the floor. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

“It’s fine.” Jongdae picked up the mop and started cleaning up the mess, and Chanyeol kept speaking to him as he handed the beers to people at the counter.

“How’s your day been?”

“It’s been alright, pretty uneventful.” He moved the mop back and forth and raised his eyes to catch Chanyeol’s gaze trained on Minseok on the stage. He smirked very subtly. “Distracted?”

“It’s just been one thing to the next,” Chanyeol replied, unaware of Jongdae smirking at him. He grabbed another glass and put it under a beer tube, filling it, and when it was full he leaned back against the bar and took a sip at it, watching Jongdae work. Jongdae lifted the mop in and out of the bucket a few times, making sure he was cleaning the floor as thoroughly as possible, and when he finished he put the mop back into the bucket and sighed.

“There, I hope there aren’t any problems.” He gave Chanyeol a friendly smile and Chanyeol grinned back at him, showing all his teeth.

“Thank you so much!” He put his glass down on the counter and moved around Jongdae to grab one of the many bottles of alcohol on the wall behind him. “We’re kind of busy tonight.”

“Ahh, I’ll leave you alone.” Jongdae started to roll his bucket away and Chanyeol laughed.

“It’s not that. But I’m not going to be very entertaining tonight.”

“That’s fine. Work hard!” Jongdae pumped his fist in the air at Chanyeol and Chanyeol laughed again, mimicking the movement.

“Thanks!”

Jongdae began to roll the bucket back towards the stage door until he saw someone sitting at a table by the stage with their head down, looking like they had passed out. Jongdae frowned and stopped in his tracks, and then looked around to see if anybody else noticed it. Everyone seemed involved in their own business, and Jongdae sighed to himself. He didn’t want anyone to get sick, that would be unfortunate. And he’d probably have to clean it up. He rolled his bucket over to the table, and put a hand on the person’s shoulder, shaking them very gently. “Hey, is everything alright? Can I bring you a glass of water?”

The man suddenly shot up with more energy than Jongdae assumed he had, opening and closing his mouth lethargically and looking around with wild eyes. His hair was a little bit tousled, and when he made a confused drunk face at Jongdae, Jongdae realized it was the same guy who came backstage last night. “Huh, what? What? I’m fine,” he started to say, and Jongdae laughed very softly at him.

“Are you sure? Mr. Junmyeon, sir.” Jongdae was thankful that Hakyeon had repeated his name earlier, because otherwise he would’ve forgotten. Junmyeon stared at Jongdae for a few more confused seconds, and then his mouth fell open.

“You’re the custodian boy.” He took note of Jongdae’s mop bucket and then pounded on the table. Jongdae watched the leather wallet and silver watch that were there bounce up and down on the wood from the movement, and the clear liquid in the glass in front of him quivered back and forth. “Here, here, sit.”

“Oh, uhm.” Jongdae thought about it, and figured he didn’t have anything else to do. He sat down in one of the chairs and scooted closer to the table. “How’s your night been?”

“It’s been okay. What’s your name?” Junmyeon blinked at him.

“It’s Jongdae.”

“I knew you were Korean, you look Korean. Jongdae,” Junmyeon repeated, and then blinked a few more times. “My night hasn’t been okay, actually. I’ve had a shitty week. But that means it can only go up from here, right?” He let out a nervous-sounding squawk of a laugh and it took Jongdae a lot of willpower not to laugh at it.

“That’s a good way to think about it, if you’re down in the dumps.”

“Mhm.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to get you a glass of water?” Jongdae looked Junmyeon up and down and took in how drunk he looked, and his eyes settled on the curve in his eyebrows and stopped. This person was pretty handsome despite the sweat forming around his hairline. Jongdae didn’t know why he was wasting his time at a club like this, but figured he had his reasons. And some of them probably had do with the drinking problem Jongdae was assuming was there.

He needed to stop assuming things about people, that was rude. He sighed and stared at Junmyeon, who still hadn’t responded, probably due to his drinking problem, and then cleared his throat. “Excuse me, sir, do you want some water?”

“You don’t have to call me sir,” Junmyeon started out making another squawky sound, and then coughed. “Uhm, I’m fine, thank you, Jongdae. You’re really sweet.”

“No problem,” Jongdae mumbled, looking around. This conversation had him feeling awkward and he didn’t want to babysit this drunk person. He blinked at Junmyeon and tried to come up with something to say anyway. “Is there anything I could do to, uhm, pick up your night? Are you enjoying the show, at least?”

“Yeah, it’s fine.” Junmyeon huffed, staring ahead at the stage but his eyes looking blankly at Minseok up on it. “I’m just kind of stressed out. Jongdae, you asked Hakyeon about the phone, right? Like I asked you?”

Jongdae was a little surprised Junmyeon even remembered that conversation. “Oh, yes, I did. He’s here right now, backstage, actually.”

“Really?” Junmyeon’s eyes opened wider and he shot up onto his feet, his chair skidding out behind him. He stood there aimlessly for a while, looking as if he was about to march off in Hakyeon’s direction, but then plopped back down in his chair, looking more dejected than before. “I can’t talk to him.”

“Why not?” Jongdae asked, smiling a little bit at Junmyeon’s random movements. It was somewhat upsetting watching someone look so mopey, but the way Junmyeon was pouting was actually kind of cute. Jongdae didn’t know if that was a creepy thing to think or not.

“I’m too awkward. He doesn’t want to talk to me,” Junmyeon sighed heavily. “He’s all put-together and classy. Mature. He wouldn’t want to waste his time with me.”

“Ahh, that’s not true. Hakyeon’s really nice.”

“I know. He’s just nice to me.” Junmyeon made a miserable face with narrowed eyes and Jongdae almost laughed again. “I want him to be more than nice.” He blinked. “I like him so much.” There was a moment of silence in which Jongdae didn’t know what to say, and Junmyeon kept speaking. “I want to ask him out but I know he’d say no to me. Maybe that’ll help, getting rejected for real. Maybe then I’d stop thinking about him.”

Jongdae hadn’t thought that a crush on a stripper of all people could get so serious, but it showed him that there were a lot of things he had yet to learn. “Why are you so sure he’d say no? I think Hakyeon would give you a try.”

Junmyeon didn’t respond for a while, and Jongdae didn't know if he had struck a nerve. Then Junmyeon sighed and Jongdae pursed his lips, studying his face. “I’m too awkward. He wouldn’t like me.”

“Maaaaybe if he agreed to go out with you, you’d feel more confident and it would calm your nerves.” Jongdae didn’t know what kind of advice he was giving at this point, all he knew was that he wanted Junmyeon to stop looking so upset for some reason. Consoling this stranger had suddenly become something he felt like he needed to do. Junmyeon didn’t really look like he was paying attention to what Jongdae was saying, either that or he was just really drunk-eyed and staring at the stage. Jongdae looked up and down Junmyeon’s jawline anyway, and quietly enjoyed what he saw.

“I don’t know if I can make that step.”

“I could help you,” Jongdae piped up, and didn’t know why he was involving himself in this guy’s love life. Was he really that bored? Maybe he just wanted to get a rise out of Hakyeon, it would probably be entertaining. Junmyeon eyed Jongdae warily, and Jongdae gave him a nervous smile.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I mean, I could tell Hakyeon that you’re interested in him, if you’re too shy to tell him yourself. He’d probably think that was cute. And then you’d have it in with him.” Jongdae shrugged. “I mean, I can’t say for sure that Hakyeon would go out with you. But if you don’t ever try then you won’t ever know, right? Like, I think that if you, uhm,” he started waving his hands in front of himself like he always did when he was bullshitting a class presentation. “I think that if you don’t ask you’ll regret it. And then--”

“Do you listen to Stars?” Junmyeon interrupted suddenly, and Jongdae stared at him, thrown off by the sudden question. Stars was his favorite band. He saw Junmyeon’s gaze trained to Jongdae’s wrist, and Jongdae looked down at it, looking at the orange tattoo he had gotten for his nineteenth birthday. It was in the shape of a rising flame, identical to the one on the album cover for Stars’ album Your Ex-Lover Is Dead, and it was the only tattoo Jongdae had. He cherished it as a reminder to himself to not give up on his frustrating Electronic Music major.

“Uhm, uhm, yeah, I do. They’re my favorite band,” Jongdae said, and Junmyeon smiled.

“That’s from, from that album of theirs.”

“Your Ex-Lover Is Dead.”

“Yeah, that one!’ Junmyeon sat back in his seat and smiled. “That’s on the album cover. That’s really cool, a nice tattoo.”

“Oh, thank you.” Jongdae smiled shakily, and then felt it grow into a grin he couldn’t control. Nobody had ever recognized what his tattoo was from before, they usually just told him it was a cool flame and then forgot. This was a weird feeling, like someone else knew the emotional significance of the orange ink on his wrist. He felt as if he had just done a shot of something powerful. “I got it when I was nineteen, haha, it didn’t hurt as much as everyone told me it would! But the lines aren’t very thick, and it’s not a lot of ink. It didn’t take very long. It was a pain to take care of afterwards but that’s another story.”

“Ahh, that’s good. Tattoos scare me, I don’t think I could put a needle on my skin.”

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I could get another one,” Jongdae shrugged, “if I find something else I want to put on my body. But it has to mean something.”

“Yeah, of course.” Junmyeon replied, looking a little bit more awake. Jongdae smiled at him, unable to stop it, and Junmyeon smiled back. “What’s that for?”

“I don’t know,” Jongdae said, feeling bubbly. “I don’t think anyone’s ever known what my tattoo was--”

“Woah, it’s Kai,” Junmyeon cut him off, staring over Jongdae’s shoulder, and Jongdae blinked and turned around to see Kai stepping out from the backstage doors, headed in direction of the bar. He was only wearing a pair of jeans, and Jongdae always wondered how he walked around in little clothing so unabashedly when he was only twenty. He always wondered how he could walk around on the sticky floor with bare feet, too. Jongdae bit his lip and glanced back to Junmyeon.

“Yeah, he’s working tonight.”

“He’s so hot,” Junmyeon mused, and Jongdae laughed.

“He is pretty hot,” Jongdae agreed.

Junmyeon blinked at him. “Are you gay?”

Jongdae laughed nervously, and then nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I am. It can be nice working here.”

“Ahh, what kind of dream job,” Junmyeon leaned back in his chair, his eyes still locked on Kai over at the bar, and Jongdae winced a bit.

“It’s nice, but I also have to clean up a lot of puke. A lot of the people who come here just throw up all over the bathroom.” Jongdae made an airy sound and waved a hand at Junmyeon. “Ehh, it’s not that big a problem, don’t worry about it.”

Junmyeon sat there looking solemn for a moment, and then mumbled, “sorry.”

Jongdae laughed out loud and wondered if he had cleaned up Junmyeon’s vomit before. “It’s fine, Junmyeon, don’t make that face.”

“If Hakyeon doesn’t like me, do you think I could get Kai to go out with me?” Junmyeon raised his voice, and Jongdae laughed once at the bluntness of it.

“Uhm, anything’s possible. Kai’s really nice, he’s just pretty shy. Like you.”

“I’m not shy,” Junmyeon grumbled, and then huffed. “I could talk to him. He’s younger, isn’t he? And he’s new? He probably doesn’t know a lot of people...” He mumbled to himself for a while longer, and Jongdae sat there, not sure if he was supposed to be hearing this or not.

“He has some friends here.”

“Jongdae, can I buy you a drink?” Junmyeon changed the subject again, and Jongdae stared at him before laughing.

“Uhm, I’m supposed to be working right now, I don’t know if I should drink.” He smiled. “Maybe some other time?”

“Alright,” Junmyeon sounded grumbly again, and his hands fussed with his wallet. Jongdae watched him, and then cleared his throat.

“I should probably go backstage,” Jongdae said, getting up from his chair. “You’re going to be alright, right? You’re not too drunk, you’ll be okay?”

“I’ll be fine, I feel better.” Junmyeon sighed heavily and looked up at Jongdae. “Thanks for sitting with me for a while.”

“Anytime. You’re nice, Junmyeon, don’t let Hakyeon intimidate you.” He smiled and rolled his mop bucket away with him, glancing back at Kai at the bar for a second before disappearing backstage behind the red curtains. He was greeted with low-quality 50s music playing softly from the speakers on one of the vanities, and Yixing sprawled across a chair, looking at his phone. Jongdae put his mop bucket back into the closet and shut it, moving back over to where he was sitting before.

“Is everything perfectly clean?” Yixing asked him without looking up from his phone, and Jongdae smiled, taking his own phone out from his back pocket so he wasn’t sitting on it.

“Yeah, Chanyeol spilled vodka everywhere but I got it.”

“What a dunce,” Yixing said slowly, and Jongdae snorted.

“Do you think Hakyeon would go out with a patron? Like, someone who comes here regularly?”

“Hell no,” Yixing said immediately, and Jongdae laughed. “He’s not into that.”

“Really?”

“Really, I think so. Unless the guy is really great or rich or something.” Yixing’s eyes were trained on his phone so he couldn’t see Jongdae smirking at him. He couldn’t tell if Junmyeon was rich or not but he had the feeling he was, if he was a random twenty-something spending all of his free time at a strip club. Jongdae cleared his throat.

“Alright. I just talked with someone who has a crush on him, it was kinda cute. Kinda sad.”

“Sucks,” Yixing said shortly. He didn’t seem interested in the conversation, so Jongdae stopped prodding him. He opened Instagram on his phone again and attempted to absorb himself in it, but he was having trouble keeping his mind from coming up with far-fetched ways to get Junmyeon and Hakyeon together. He sighed to himself. This is something he probably shouldn’t have gotten himself involved in. But for some reason he felt like Junmyeon was his friend now and he had to help him out.

Jongdae closed his eyes and leaned against his chair. Maybe he would talk to Hakyeon the next time he came backstage. But when Hakyeon came in and out from his sets, Jongdae couldn’t muster up the courage to talk to him. He wasn’t sure if he should do anything without Junmyeon’s permission. He watched Hakyeon walk around and swallowed hard. Maybe he could ask Chanyeol for help.

 

 


	3. jongdae has a lot of homework

A day later Jongdae had been trying to devise the exact question he was going to ask Chanyeol that night about his problem, but then Hakyeon appeared through the backstage curtain in a flourish loudly complaining about how Junmyeon was ruining his day, and it threw a wrench in his plans. He sat up from Tao’s vanity, where he had been frantically trying to finish his Computer Science project since Tao wasn’t there right now, and looked over at Hakyeon, who was ranting at nobody in particular as he moved to his own vanity.

“He just looks so goddamn sad every time I talk to him and it makes me feel bad about turning him down.” Hakyeon sat down in his chair with a ‘whumph’ sound and Jongdae stared at him with wide eyes for a moment. He looked around the backstage area - Kai was sitting at his little booth with his headphones in, so he probably wasn’t hearing this, and Hoseok was at his area on the other side of the room looking very much asleep. Jongdae considered he was the only person listening to Hakyeon, and when he turned back to look at him and found Hakyeon staring at him with his lips pursed as if he was expecting a response, he jumped a bit.

“Aaah, ah, I’m sorry, Hakyeon.” Jongdae blinked, and Hakyeon laughed a little and shook his head.

“Sorry, I’m just, uggggh.” Hakyeon groaned. “Annoyed.”

“What happened?” Jongdae didn’t really want to stop working on his project, since it was due tomorrow and he still had a lot more of it to finish, but he was also welcome for the distraction because he had been trying to write code for the past couple of hours and his brain was numb. Hakyeon stared at himself in his mirror for a moment before replying.

“He asked me out again. Agh!” He put his face in his hands and made another frustrated sound. “But I told him no this time, and he got so upset. Not like, angry at me, just, melancholy, depressed. Which sucks, y’know, ‘cause I have to deal with it!” Hakyeon sighed and leaned against his chair, rolling his head back. “Is that selfish? Am I being mean to him? I’m just trying not to hurt him, goddamnit. If I led him on even though I’m not into him it would be even meaner.”

“Wait, this time? Has he asked you out before?” Jongdae was caught up on that part. He was under the impression that Junmyeon had been too shy to ask Hakyeon out, but apparently that was not true. The problem he had been mulling over in his head all day seemed to have solved itself.

Hakyeon’s upper lip raised, and he made his disgusted face that Jongdae was familiar with. “A couple weeks ago I went to his uncle’s wedding with him. It was weird. He just needed a date to it and he asked me. I didn’t think it meant anything.”

“But he paid you for that?” Jongdae asked, and Hakyeon shot him a look that silently told him to watch where he was treading. Jongdae looked at him with clear eyes, undeterred.

“Yeah. Well, he didn’t, initially. I was just going as his friend or whatever. But at the end of the night he paid me anyway.” Hakyeon cleared his throat and sat up in his chair. “But that doesn’t matter. I guess he thought that meant I liked him. I probably shouldn’t have done that. I got myself into this...”

“I’m sorry you’re stressed out about it,” Jongdae said, and Hakyeon grinned, shaking a hand at him.

“Not stressed, not stressed. Inconvenienced. I’ll forget about it.”

“You really don’t like him?” Jongdae was a little bit upset, and didn’t want to think about how upset Junmyeon might be right now. But being in a relationship required both parties to be interested, and that didn’t always work out. Junmyeon could pine all he wanted but there was nothing Jongdae could do to help him. Oh well.

“I’m interested in someone else right now.” Hakyeon wiped at his face again and then looked at himself in the mirror, and moved to fix the makeup he had smudged. “Junmyeon’s sweet and all but I really don’t fucking care.” Jongdae sighed and pursed his lips.

“Well, maybe now it’s all behind you,” Jongdae offered, and Hakyeon laughed a little as he reapplied his makeup.

“Maybe. Hopefully.”

“Did he cry or something?” Jongdae asked, but both he and Hakyeon were distracted when Tao came in through the backstage curtain, hard rock music that Jongdae didn’t recognize blasting from his phone. He walked over and sent a little snarl in Jongdae’s direction when he got to his vanity, and Jongdae scrambled to collect all of his things he had on the desk. “Sorry, Tao, you weren’t here and I needed the space.”

“Well, I’m here now,” Tao hovered over Jongdae’s shoulder impatiently as Jongdae piled everything on top of his laptop, and when he stood up Hakyeon started smacking the chair beside him.

“C’mere babe, you can sit at this one here. Minseok’s not coming in tonight,” Hakyeon told him, and Jongdae thanked him as he moved all of his work. Tao plopped down in his chair and put his phone down, moving his legs to perch them on his counter.

Jongdae put his laptop down at Minseok’s desk and moved all of his books off of it. He sighed heavily, opening his laptop once more and staring at the wall of text in front of him. It was such an unwelcome sight. The song playing on Tao’s phone changed into a Fall Out Boy song that Jongdae recognized, and he perked his head up, looking over as Tao turned up the volume. Jongdae smiled a little and looked back at his laptop, and then closed it almost immediately as a reflex.

He turned to Hakyeon and made a whiny sound. “I don’t like writing code.”

“Why are you taking a computer geek class if you’re not a computer geek?” Hakyeon asked him as he fussed with his eyeliner.

Jongdae sighed. “I just want the credit. I just have to get this done with and then I won’t ever have to write code again.”

“Work towards that goal, then.” Hakyeon said, and Jongdae looked around him at Tao sitting at his vanity, miming playing the drums with an energy Jongdae didn’t think he had. Jongdae snorted a bit.

He looked over when he heard Kai’s voice for the first time all night. “Tao, can you turn your music down, please? I can hear it over my headphones,” Kai said, holding one headphone in his hand with the other one still in his ear. Jongdae was surprised he could hear Kai’s soft voice over the music.

Tao glanced back at him and Jongdae didn’t catch the look he gave Kai, but then Tao reached over and turned down the volume a bit. “Sorry,” he said, and Kai thanked him.

Being reminded of Kai’s quiet existence gave Jongdae an idea. It was worth a shot, he figured, and he got up from his chair and moved over to Kai’s area, sitting down at one of the empty vanities around him. Kai didn’t seem to notice Jongdae sitting down, already having put his headphone back in, but when Jongdae raised his voice Kai looked up.

“Hey, Kai.” Jongdae said, and Kai pulled the same headphone as before out of his ear, before thinking twice and then pulling out the second one to give Jongdae his full attention. Jongdae thought the gesture was sweet.

“What’s up?”

“Can I ask you a weird question?” Tao’s music was still pretty much blaring and Jongdae was thankful that the sound was probably drowning out their conversation. Kai blinked at him blankly for a moment, and then nodded.

“Yeah, sure.”

Kai was only a year younger than Jongdae but Jongdae still felt as if he was barely eighteen, probably from the way Kai was advertised in the club as one of the younger dancers. He always felt kind of weird talking to him, as if Kai looked at him like one of the club veterans since Jongdae had been there longer. That was a weird thought. Jongdae didn’t think of himself as a club veteran at all.

“Are you gay?” Jongdae came right out of the gate with it, since he figured there was no use in beating around the bush. Kai’s eyes got a little bit wider, but he didn’t seem uncomfortable.

“No, I just work as a stripper in a gay strip club,” Kai said very flatly, and if he hadn’t started giggling at himself almost immediately after Jongdae probably wouldn’t have been able to tell it was sarcasm. Jongdae laughed shortly because it was the first joke he had ever heard Kai make, and Kai stopped himself. “I’m sorry.”

“No, no, it was funny. So you are gay?”

“Yes, I am.” Kai blinked at Jongdae, and Jongdae considered that maybe Kai thought he was coming onto him. That was not it at all, and he cleared his throat.

“Okay, cool. I’m asking because, uhm, I have a friend, who, who’s asking about you a lot.” Jongdae didn’t know if he could call Junmyeon a friend or not. They had had two conversations, both of which Junmyeon was pretty drunk for. But Jongdae liked him and wanted to call him his friend, so he was going to. “He likes you. He likes you a lot but he’s really shy, and doesn’t know how to talk to you.”

“Oh...really?” Kai asked, his eyes darting around for a moment before settling back on Jongdae. He looked a little flustered now, and readjusted his position in his chair. “That’s really nice. Uhh. Well, I’m single, so...” He trailed off, and Jongdae smiled.

“Really? Can I tell him that you’re open to talking to him?” He cleared his throat again. “I mean, I don’t know if you are, but--”

“--yeah, that would be fine, I guess.” Kai pursed his lips. “He’s your friend, you said? So he’s been here? Is he, uhm, your age?”

“He’s...” Jongdae actually didn’t know how old Junmyeon was. “Yeah, he’s around my age.” He hoped he wasn’t lying. He had noticed how Kai had been a favorite of some of the older patrons, and he assumed that Kai wasn’t the biggest fan of the older crowd because of it. He felt better that he wasn’t selling Kai off to some creepy octogenarian, but he couldn’t quite gauge how Kai felt about being ogled by a club patron.

“Alright. Yeah, tell him that I’ll talk to him.” Kai gave him a little smile, and Jongdae felt as if he had won something. He was excited to go off and tell Junmyeon, maybe it would bring his spirits up after being rejected by Hakyeon. Hopefully he could move on fast.

“Thank you so much, Kai. I promise he’s not creepy.” That was probably a promise Jongdae didn’t have the right to make, but it felt necessary. It made Kai laugh softly, and that was a good feeling. “Thanks,” Jongdae repeated, and then got up to return to Minseok’s vanity and keep working on his project.

Hakyeon was halfway through asking Jongdae what he had just said to Kai when suddenly Yixing was backstage, throwing aside the curtain even more dramatically than Hakyeon had. He raised his voice and sent a rousing “hey, bitches!” in Jongdae and Hakyeon’s direction before walking over to them.

Jongdae noticed Hoseok on the other side of the room shocking awake from the sudden noise before he noticed that Yixing was wearing a tuxedo. It was the most clothes he had ever seen Yixing in, and the sight was a little off-putting. But he stared for a second longer and really enjoyed what he saw. He didn’t know that Yixing even had clothes like that.

“Isn’t it your day off?” Hakyeon asked him as Jongdae studied the fuzz on Yixing’s bowtie.

Yixing grinned at him and put one hand on his shoulder, looking at him through his reflection in the mirror. “Yeah, I’m not working tonight.”

“Why are you here, then? And why are you dressed like someone who donates a lot of money to a theater?”

Yixing laughed out loud and put both hands on Hakyeon’s shoulders, rubbing them back and forth in some sort of mock massage that looked more troublesome than soothing. “I’m going to the _opera_ tonight, with a lady friend. I just came back here to get something.”

“The _opera_.” Hakyeon snorted at him. “You’re not the first person who comes to mind when I think of operagoers.”

“I’m so high,” Yixing whisper-yelled into Hakyeon’s ear, and Jongdae laughed out loud as Hakyeon swatted Yixing away from him. Yixing seemed to notice the sound, because he looked over at Jongdae and then scooted over to give Jongdae’s shoulders the same treatment he had been giving Hakyeon. Jongdae laughed at his reflection in the mirror as Yixing rubbed him excitedly.

“What are you doing?” Jongdae asked him through a grin, and Yixing ignored the question.

“Do you want to come with me?” Yixing asked his own question, and Jongdae stared at him through the mirror, and then frowned. Yixing was asking him to go to the fucking opera? Jongdae was wearing a Postal Service t-shirt. He couldn’t just go to the opera.

“Wow, really? You’re asking me?” He marveled at Yixing, and Yixing laughed.

“Yeah, of course. I’m looking for a third and you like music.”

“Ahhh, Yixing.” Jongdae sighed. “That’s super nice and I really want to but, but I’m working tonight.”

“If you just ask Kris to get off early I bet he’ll let you go; Tao knows how to use a mop.”

Tao made some sort of offended noise, as if he wasn’t really paying attention but heard his name used and was objecting to it anyway. Jongdae chuckled. “No, I mean, I have this fucking Computer Science project I have to finish tonight, because I’m an asshole and put it off ‘til the last minute. I’m sorry, I have so much work to do.”

Yixing sighed, and Jongdae thought that the noise didn’t sound too dejected. “Awwh, fine. You college kid.”

“Maybe some other time?” Jongdae asked, and Yixing barked out an indignant laugh.

“What, do you think I go to the opera all the time? Who the hell do you think I am?” Hakyeon laughed out loud at this and Jongdae snickered quietly, now feeling a little bit more let down. This was a cool opportunity he was missing because of fucking Computer Science. Goddamnit.

“Why don’t you ever ask me to go to the opera?” Hakyeon asked, exaggerating the whine, and Yixing laughed again and sat down in the chair next to Hakyeon’s. Jongdae looked at his computer screen for a while, drowning out whatever Hakyeon and Yixing were talking about. He figured Yixing was about to leave soon, and then backstage would be less exciting. He sighed.

He tried to write two more lines of code and stopped the moment he pressed the ‘enter’ button. That was worth a break. He got up from his chair, his body moving on autopilot and leading him out of the curtain onto the main floor. He looked around for Junmyeon, thinking that it might cheer him up if he went and told him the good news about Kai. He didn’t see any depressing-looking figures doubled over at a table, and pursed his lips, going over to the bar.

Jongdae walked up to the counter and smiled when Jaehwan threw a grin in his direction, preoccupied with a drink he was making. He watched Jaehwan smack Chanyeol’s side to get his attention, and Chanyeol whipped around, making a pleased sound when he saw Jongdae.

“Hey! Jongdae, what’s up?”

“Is Junmyeon still around? Have you seen him?” Jongdae figured the bartender would know where he was. Chanyeol filled his cheeks up with air and deflated them immediately.

“I think he just left, actually. I saw him a moment ago but he was mumbling something about leaving. Didn’t seem to be in a good mood.” Jongdae sighed at this, and Chanyeol gave him a small smile. “Why are you asking about Junmyeon of all people? I didn’t think you knew people who came here.”

“I just have something to tell him and I don’t have his phone number or anything.” Jongdae shrugged. “It’s fine.”

“He’ll be here tomorrow night, I promise.” Chanyeol laughed. “He’s here all the time.”

“Alright.”

“You look down. You want something to drink? You waaant a soda?” Chanyeol asked him playfully, and Jongdae couldn’t help but grin.

“I’m fine, thank you. I have a lot of homework, I’m just stressed out.”

“Awwh, that sucks.” Chanyeol started rinsing out beer glasses that were sitting by the sink, and Jongdae watched him. “You’ll get it done; the night is still young.”

“That’s right. I’ll just be kind of a zombie tomorrow, but that’s fine.”

“Tomorrow! Tomorrow,” Chanyeol made finger guns at Jongdae and moved them back and forth. “My roommate Kyungsoo is coming to visit us tomorrow night! Here. He’s coming here. He doesn’t come here that often.”

“Doesn’t wanna stoop to our level, does he?” Jongdae laughed, and Chanyeol laughed louder.

“Maybe. But he doesn’t have rehearsal or anything and he said he’d come here and hang out. You have to come hang out with him, okay?”

“Alright, I can do that. I don’t really know him, but whatever.”

“He’s really cool. You guys’ll be fast friends.”

“Yeah, I think I’ve met him before, only...fleetingly.” Jongdae nodded. “I’ll make an appearance. Text me when he shows up or something.”

“Will do,” Chanyeol told him, and Jongdae watched him wash glasses for a while. He admired Jaehwan making some weird pink-and-white swirly drink, and felt a vague pull to get drunk. That was definitely something he shouldn’t do tonight.

He felt hands on his shoulders and startled harder than he would like to admit, and then heard Yixing cackling in his ears. “Hey, I’m leaving.”

“God, I didn’t hear you come up to me.” Jongdae laughed. “Have fun at the opera.”

Yixing grinned at him and patted his shoulder before walking away, and Chanyeol snorted, raising an eyebrow in his direction. “You’re going to the opera? What the hell?”

“I’m an opera guy!” Yixing hollered at him, fist pumping a hand in the air as he walked towards the exit. Jongdae watched peoples’ heads turn in Yixing’s direction and laughed.

“He’s so weird,” Jongdae said to Chanyeol, and Chanyeol laughed.

“I’m trying to imagine him renting a tuxedo.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought too, he can’t possibly actually have a tuxedo! He comes to work every day in hoodies and basketball shorts!” Jongdae laughed. “Weird. Weirdo.”

Chanyeol just made an amused sound at him, and Jongdae smiled a little bit. Watching Chanyeol dry things off was sort of comforting, so he was content to stick around at the bar for a while and calm down. There wasn’t anything backstage for him except for a lot of homework and Tao’s loud music. He hoped tomorrow would be better, and figured it would be since he wouldn’t be worrying about any huge projects. He would be able to talk to Junmyeon and maybe get along with Chanyeol’s roommate.

“I’m gonna go back,” he told Chanyeol after a few minutes, and Chanyeol nodded at him.

“Have fun doing your homework,” Chanyeol told him, his heart obviously not in the sentence, and Jongdae laughed.

“Yeah, of course. Have fun washing glasses.” Jongdae returned backstage, not throwing the curtain aside like all of his flamboyant friends, and went back over to Minseok’s vanity to sit down. His laptop had started hibernating and he unlocked it again, watching it boot up slowly. Hakyeon made a sound at him to signal he acknowledged Jongdae’s return, and Jongdae smiled at him.

His project was the first thing his computer showed after it logged on and it was upsetting to look at. But he had worked a good amount of it already, it wouldn’t be too hard to finish it. It was just the actual act of finishing it that was so daunting. Oh well. He hoped there wouldn’t be any huge spills or messes to interrupt him, and he resigned himself to typing away for the rest of the night.

 

 


	4. (nsfw) jongdae lets out his inner freak

Chanyeol’s text to tell Jongdae that his roommate Kyungsoo had arrived had about five more emojis than usual, so Jongdae could tell he was in a stellar mood. That fit, because Jongdae was in a stellar mood as well - he had been up last night until 4am finishing his Computer Science project, but it was _done_ now and turned in, and after he had finished classes today at 3 he had taken a nap to feel refreshed. He had been walking around work all night cleaning things with a smile because it felt so damn good to be done with his project.

He walked up to the bar with the same cheesy smile on his face that had been there all day, and Chanyeol greeted him with an even dorkier one, showing all of his teeth. “Jongdae! Yay, yay.”

“Hey, how are you? We’re not too busy tonight, you look free.”

Chanyeol exhaled happily. “Yeah, it’s nice when we’re not swarmed. I haven’t had to do a lot. Jaehwan is taking some goddamn initiative with these drinks tonight.” Chanyeol smiled. “How are you? Did you finish your homework?”

“Yes! All done. I don’t have to worry about anything until this Sunday, I have to write a paper for Jazz History.” Jongdae lifted a hand to his face and groaned. “But don’t talk to me about that. I feel so liberated right now.”

Chanyeol laughed. “That’s good, that’s good!” He then reached out and grabbed the sleeve of the man sitting a chair away from Jongdae at the bar, shaking it and getting his attention. “Kyungsoo, Kyungsoo, stop talking to Junie for one second. This is my friend Jongdae.”

“What?” The man turned around and looked at Jongdae, and Jongdae stared at his eyebrows. He was slight in frame, looking maybe Jongdae’s height or possibly shorter, with delicate shoulders and plump lips that surprised Jongdae when he saw them. Jongdae swallowed and scooted into the chair closer to his without thinking about it.

“This is Jongdae, he’s, uhm, he helps backstage.”

“I’m the janitor,” Jongdae confessed with a grin, and Kyungsoo held out his hand to shake Jongdae’s. Jongdae shook it and felt a little tingle shoot up his wrist when Kyungsoo let go of him. Why the hell was he hearing the bells right now? He wasn’t expecting Chanyeol’s roommate to be so handsome. He cleared his throat and glanced at Chanyeol for help, because suddenly he was freezing up.

“Chanyeol told me you’re in college, how did you even get a job here?” Kyungsoo asked before Chanyeol could intervene, and Jongdae was a little grateful. Kyungsoo’s voice was a baritone sound that Jongdae had not expected to hear. He smiled sheepishly and wondered what else Chanyeol had told Kyungsoo about him.

“Well, I just turned twenty-one a couple months back, so it’s not illegal or anything. I was just looking around the neighborhood for jobs, and.” He blinked. “It was here, and the hours worked, since most of my daytime is busy with school.”

“And he’s gay, so he thought he could get a boyfriend,” Chanyeol added, and Jongdae actually whined out loud at him while Kyungsoo barked a laugh.

“That’s what Chanyeol keeps telling me, to come here to find someone to date.” Kyungsoo said as he shook his head and lifted his glass of beer up to his mouth. “I don’t think so. This isn’t my scene.”

“What do you do? I think Chanyeol’s told me before but I, I forgot.” Jongdae rubbed at the back of his neck and watched Kyungsoo’s lips leave his glass.

“I’m in a show right now. I act.” Kyungsoo nodded at himself as if he had just remembered his career.

“Really? That’s so cool. It must be so hard to get a job here. What show is it?”

“It’s called Waterbird. It’s, uhm, kind of experimental. Really tech-based theatre. I’m not the lead or anything, I’m secondary. It’s still so much fun. I think I like being supporting more than being a lead, to be honest.” He sighed. “Which isn’t a good career path at all, but whatever.”

“As long as you’re enjoying your work, that’s all that matters, right? And Broadway is like, as good as it gets, so you’ve gotta be good.”

Kyungsoo let out another awkward bark-sounding laugh and Jongdae found it endearing. “That’s a fine way of thinking about it. Thanks. You should come to my show sometime,” Kyungsoo grinned at him, showing his teeth, and Jongdae grinned back.

“Maybe, if I can find the time!” _And the money_. He didn’t want to think about that. He sent a smile in Kyungsoo’s direction and kept smiling as Kyungsoo shook his hand at Chanyeol.

“You should bring Jongdae to the show,” he told him.

Chanyeol laughed. “I’ve seen your show five hundred times.”

“Support live theatre.”

“I have supported live theatre five hundred times. Jongdae can find someone else to go with him.” Chanyeol grinned in Jongdae’s direction and Jongdae laughed.

“Yeah, I’m sure I can.”

“Kyungsoo, Kyungsoo, he’s coming out. This is the guy I was talking about.” Jongdae heard Junmyeon’s voice on the other side of Kyungsoo, and he saw him pulling on Kyungsoo’s sleeve. Jongdae wondered if that was just the socially acceptable way of getting Kyungsoo’s attention. Kyungsoo glanced at him and then turned around in his stool so he could face the stage where Junmyeon was pointing.

“What? This is Kai?” Kyungsoo blinked at the stage and moved his fingers up and down his glass pointlessly. “Alright.”

Jongdae reached around Kyungsoo’s back as politely as he could to shake Junmyeon’s shoulder with his hand, and when Junmyeon looked over at him he smiled hugely. “Jongdae! Hi!”

“Hey, how are you?” Jongdae smiled at him, happy to see him upright and not passed out on a table somewhere. He still remembered his name, which Jongdae was thankful for. It seemed Junmyeon was a more coherent drunk than he had thought.

“I’m good!” He sounded much more sober than the other times Jongdae had spoken to him, and Jongdae liked it. “I had a good day, I’m glad to just relax here.” He seemed distracted when Kai came out onstage, and Jongdae didn’t really want to bother him right now. He tried his best not to poke horny lions, or however the phrase went.

“That’s great.” Jongdae wanted to tell him about his conversation with Kai last night, but didn’t think it was the right place to do it, especially since Kyungsoo was sitting in between them. It could wait.

“How tall is this guy?” Kyungsoo asked, his eyes locked on Kai, and Junmyeon shrugged.

“Probably six feet tall, six something. Maybe six one.”

“Too tall.” Kyungsoo made a face. “I’m short.”

Junmyeon laughed at him. “I’m short, too, but there are ways around that. He’s not too tall. _Chanyeol’s_ too tall.”

Chanyeol grunted when he heard his name used, but didn’t follow the noise up with anything. Jongdae grinned at the little sound and then tried to turn and watch the show, but seized up a bit when he saw Kai shaking his ass in front of people. Jongdae always felt weird watching the performances here, especially when it was someone as sweet as Kai. He didn’t really want to watch him take his clothes off.

He turned back around to face the bar and observed Chanyeol holding a glass up to the soda machine, and then got bored of the sight and glanced over at Kyungsoo. He was shown the opposite side of his profile that Jongdae hadn’t looked at yet, and Jongdae traced his jawline with his eyes for longer than was probably socially acceptable, but Kyungsoo wasn’t paying a bit of attention to him now. He noticed how Kyungsoo’s eyes widened a bit when Kai looked in the direction of the bar - his eyes were a dark brown color that Jongdae liked to look at. He remembered Chanyeol saying that Kyungsoo didn’t come to visit the club that often, so he was probably not used to the strippers. It was cute.

Jongdae stared at Chanyeol, his eyes wide as saucers as he tried to grab Chanyeol’s attention while not moving an inch. He almost felt like yelling at Chanyeol for not preparing him enough to handle his hot friend. His throat felt dry.

“Can I have a drink?” He managed to croak, and Chanyeol looked up at him, his brow furrowed a bit.

“You’re working.”

“I’m not doing anything right now, there isn’t anything to clean. I won’t get drunk.”

“Alright, sure.” It was easy to win Chanyeol over, which Jongdae was thankful for. Chanyeol lifted his hand and smacked Jaehwan lightly in the arm, having to lean over a bit to make the distance. “Hey, can you make Jongdae a drink?”

“Yaah, what does he want?” Jongdae found it entertaining that Jaehwan didn’t have the same reservations about drinking at work that Chanyeol did. Chanyeol glanced back at Jongdae, searching for an answer, and Jongdae blinked.

“Uhm, something with rum in it, please?” Jongdae remembered from a party at his school that he liked the taste of rum. Jaehwan thought for a second and then made a finger gun at him.

“I got you.”

“Jaehwannie, make something for me, too,” Junmyeon chimed in, reaching his arm back and waving it aimlessly at Jaehwan over the counter. Jaehwan laughed at him.

“Fine, but you have to pay.”

“Yaah, I know that.”

“How much is it?” Jongdae felt around his jeans for his wallet, and Jaehwan raised his eyes to look at him.

“You don’t have to pay for this, Jongdae.”

“Nnh, are you sure?” Jongdae asked, feeling uneasy. The more he thought about having free drinks on the job the worse it sounded, and he didn’t want his boss to find out somehow.

“I’ll buy it for you,” Junmyeon put a twenty dollar bill on the counter and his fingers lingered there for a moment after Chanyeol took it from him.

“Nooo, Junmyeon, don’t do that,” Jongdae whined very unconvincingly. Chanyeol laughed at the sound, apparently picking up on his reluctance to pay. Jongdae glanced over at Junmyeon and saw how he was watching Jaehwan make his drink instead of watching Kai, and thought that maybe now wouldn’t be a bad time to interrupt him after all.

He got up and crossed around Kyungsoo to sit on Junmyeon’s other side. Jongdae felt bad stepping in front of Kyungsoo for a split second since Kyungsoo was so intently watching Kai’s performance, and wondered if Kyungsoo had ever seen a stripper before. He laughed at the thought and plopped down in the chair next to Junmyeon’s.

“Hey, I have good news for you,” he said, keeping his voice a little quieter to not rouse the nosy bartenders’ attention. Junmyeon smiled a little bit at him.

“Yaah, what’s that?”

“I talked to Kai yesterday. I didn’t use your name or anything but I told him that you’re interested in talking to him, and he said that’s cool. He won’t be freaked out if you go up to him.”

“Are you serious?” Junmyeon asked, his eyes wide, and then he grinned. “Ahh, Jongdae! Thank you so much! He’s so hot, I don’t know how to talk to him.” Junmyeon groaned and tapped his feet against the floor impatiently, looking at Kai up on stage. “Ahhh, shit. That’s so cool, Jongdae, thank you. I’ll talk to him-- I’ll talk to him tonight.” Junmyeon blinked a few times in a row, and then lifted his hands to rub at his face. “Should I do that?”

“If you think you’re up to it, then go for it,” Jongdae told him, and it made Junmyeon grin again.

“I think I’ll do that. I hope he doesn’t-- no, he won’t, he’s nice.” Junmyeon rubbed his face again, appearing to silently convince himself of something. He sighed shakily and smiled as he watched Kai wrap up his stage, and tapped his feet some more. “I’m gonna go-- go talk to him, when he’s done. Waah. Thank you, Jongdae,” he clasped his hand on Jongdae’s shoulder and squeezed, and then stood up and brushed his pants off. He reached out and pulled on Kyungsoo’s arm again. “I’m gonna go talk to him.”

Kyungsoo made a scoff-y sound. “Good luck,” he told him, and Junmyeon laughed as he went to relocate to a table closer to the stage.

“Jongdae, where’d you go? Ah,” Jongdae heard Jaehwan looking out loud for him, and then Jaehwan placed his drink in front of him at the counter. “Here you go. Where’d Junmyeon run off to?” Jaehwan’s mouth fell open. “Waah, did that asshole leave again? He ordered a drink and fucking left! He needs to stop fucking doing that, he does it all the time!”

“He already paid, it’s fine,” Chanyeol told him, and Jaehwan groaned.

“I don’t care that he paid! I made a drink for him and the color’s going to settle if he doesn’t drink it right away! This is my art!” Jongdae thought that Jaehwan sounded more mock-offended than anything, and he smirked at him. Jaehwan didn’t seem to notice the look, and placed Junmyeon’s drink in front of Kyungsoo. “Here, Kyungsoo, it’s rum and cinnamon whiskey.”

“What?” Kyungsoo turned around to face the bar again, and stared at the tall glass in front of him. He put his beer on the counter and made a face. “Is this-- what is this?”

“Junmyeon made me make him a drink and then bolted. Drink it.”

“I’m not even done with my beer. Thanks,” Kyungsoo resigned, and then lifted his glass to clink against Jongdae’s. Jongdae didn’t notice at first, and then made a sound of recognition, picking up his glass and clinking it against Kyungsoo’s through giggles. Kyungsoo smirked at him a bit and took a long sip from his drink. “Ahh, that’s good.”

Jongdae put his drink down after a sip and scrunched up his face. “Oh, god.” Jaehwan laughed out loud at him, and Jongdae cleared his throat. He wasn’t crazy about alcohol, and prefered to do shots instead of having mixed drinks because it got him drunker faster. That was probably a very college way of going about it, but he was in college. He was allowed to think that way. He watched Kyungsoo sip at his drink with an ease that Jongdae knew he wouldn’t have for a couple more years and sighed.

He sat and listened to Kyungsoo and Jaehwan talking about something that Jongdae didn’t recognize, and he figured it was some sort of inside joke or maybe a conversation they had left off of earlier. Kyungsoo seemed to be a little more comfortable speaking to Jaehwan and Chanyeol than he had earlier when speaking to him, since he was smiling more and laughing. He lifted his hands to put over his face at one point and Jongdae thought the movement was adorable. He sipped at his drink, slowly getting over the taste of alcohol and enjoying the sweetness that was in it. Jaehwan was very good at mixing drinks.

“Jongdae, slow down,” he heard Chanyeol say to him slowly, and when Jongdae glanced up at him he saw Chanyeol smiling at him. He looked down at his drink and saw that it was mostly gone, and wondered when the hell that happened. Apparently he was enjoying Kyungsoo and Jaehwan’s conversation too much.

“Waah, it tastes good. I can’t help it,” Jongdae laughed, and he enjoyed the grin Jaehwan sent his way.

“Do I need to catch up?” Kyungsoo asked, and he started drinking with more speed. Chanyeol made a nervous laughing sound and reached his hand out.

“Hey, you’re a lightweight, be careful.”

At that Kyungsoo put his drink down and scowled jokingly at Chanyeol. “I am not a lightweight.”

“You had a shot earlier, right? And a beer. And this drink is pretty strong, Jaehwan makes drinks strong. You’re not driving, are you?”

“No, I took a cab.” Kyungsoo took another sip of his drink and then put it down next to Jongdae’s, checking the level. They were at around the same place, and Kyungsoo smiled at him. “There.”

“It’s not a race,” Jongdae laughed, and Kyungsoo reached out to pet the top of his head a few times.

“Because then I would beat you,” he said, and Jongdae laughed again, a little thrown off by the sudden touching. He assumed Kyungsoo was sort of drunk already, if Chanyeol was telling the truth.

“So do you like Kai?” Jongdae asked, reaching his arms out on the counter and leaning on it. He smiled up at Kyungsoo, enjoying the face Kyungsoo made as he was caught off-guard.

“Yeah, he’s, he’s really good-looking. All of the guys here are so hot, I don’t know where you find them.” Kyungsoo laughed nervously, and Jongdae grinned at him.

“He’s sort of new, he just got here a few weeks ago. But he’s really good.”

“Huh. He looks...young.”

“I think he’s only twenty.”

“Really?” Kyungsoo’s face scrunched up a bit, and Jongdae thought it was a unique expression for someone so handsome to make. “I didn’t think you could work at a place like this until you were twenty-one. Because, like, it serves alcohol.”

“Ehh, that’s only if you’re working with the alcohol. We have guys younger than that working here. They have to be eighteen.” Jongdae sat up again, his arms not enjoying his body weight pushing down on them on the counter.

“Huh. That’s...creepy. I wouldn’t want to watch an eighteen year-old dance.” Kyungsoo picked up his drink again and finished it, apparently already forgetting about Chanyeol’s warning. When the glass was empty he put it down on the counter and smiled at Jaehwan. “You’re a good bartender.”

“Thank you, I try.” Jaehwan was busy making something green in a martini glass, and Jongdae blinked a few times while watching him. His eyesight was already starting to lag, and he was surprised by it. He always forgot how strong Jaehwan made his drinks.

A few more minutes passed as Kyungsoo entered some conversation with Chanyeol that Jongdae didn’t feel like listening to, instead enjoying the feeling of the bass from the club speakers shaking the counter. He wasn’t really a fan of the loud house music they played at the club sometimes, but it wasn’t awful. He could deal with it, and besides, there wasn’t really any kind of music that he disliked.

He checked his phone and saw that he had been at the bar for a half an hour. Hmm. Maybe he had something to do backstage and nobody could find him. If there was a spill or something he had to be around to clean it. He always felt antsy when he was doing something at work that he shouldn’t be doing, and this was no exception. He closed his phone and slipped it into his pocket, almost making a move like he was going to get up and check backstage, but then Kyungsoo leaned over and touched his wrist.

“Want a shot?” Kyungsoo asked him, one of his beautiful eyebrows wiggling, and Jongdae stared at his face for a moment before breaking out into a grin.

“Sure,” he replied, because he hated turning down shots. They were the only part of alcohol he liked. Kyungsoo asked Chanyeol to pour them two shots of rum, and while Chanyeol did this Kyungsoo smiled at him.

“I feel like getting drunk tonight, I don’t care. I feel like doing something crazy. I have the day off tomorrow,” he said, and Jongdae nodded.

“I finished a huge school project last night so I feel like celebrating.”

“Ahh, that’s good. What are you studying?” Kyungsoo asked him as Chanyeol put the shots in front of them, and Kyungsoo lifted it and waited for Jongdae to take his. Jongdae grinned and picked it up, clinking the glass against Kyungsoo’s and taking it with him.

He was better at this than the mixed drink, which showed that his college education was teaching him something. He still pulled a face after putting the glass down on the counter, and Chanyeol laughed out loud at it when he collected the glasses. Kyungsoo smirked at him and Jongdae shook his head a few times to get the expression away.

“I study electronic music, I, uhm, compose songs.” Jongdae rapped his knuckles against the counter, feeling the rush from the shot already. “Or at least, I want to get into that business. Singer-songwriter kind of stuff. I like music a lot.”

“That’s fantastic. You’re in a good city to do it,” Kyungsoo smiled, and Jongdae smiled back at him.

“Yeah, I love New York.”

“Are you from around here?”

“I’m from Washington, D.C.. A good place if you want to be a politician or a lobbyist, but not really ideal if you want to do what I want to. So when I got into NYU I jumped at the chance to come up here.”

“D.C.? Wow. That’s kind of a ways away.” Kyungsoo leaned one hand on the side of his face to hold himself up, and Jongdae smiled a bit at how cute the gesture was.

“Yeah, it’s like five hours or so by one of those travel buses. Not too bad. Are you from around here?”

“I grew up in Long Island, yeah. Not too far.”

“That’s really cool. Sometimes I wish I was from here, everyone who was born and raised in New York is so much better adjusted than I am.” Jongdae laughed. “I’m still getting used to the people here and I’ve gone to school here for like, three years.”

“They’re a different breed,” Kyungsoo laughed, and Jongdae laughed along with him.

“Yeah.”

“Can I tell you a secret?” Kyungsoo said suddenly, his voice dropping a little bit as he looked around the bar to make sure his roommates weren’t paying attention to them. Jongdae paused, wondering what kind of soul-baring secret Kyungsoo was about to confide in him, and nodded.

“Yeah, sure.”

“I think this club is kind of a brothel,” Kyungsoo said, and Jongdae couldn’t help but snort at this sentence. Kyungsoo continued, not thrown off by this response. “But you probably know that already, since you work here. I think some of the guys here do stuff for money. I think all strip clubs are like that.”

Jongdae laughed again, amused by how he thought he was going to learn something intimate and instead was met with the vaguely horny ramblings of a drunk stranger. “Uuuh, it’s not really a brothel, per say. There are a lot of guys here who will throw a drink in your face if you creep on them. But there are other guys who can be bought, yeah.” Jongdae laughed again, unable to hold it back.

“I don’t want to do that,” Kyungsoo said. “That’s not me. Kinda weirds me out that my roommates work at a place like this. And you, you’re young. And Kai. He’s young. But I guess people do what they need to to pay the rent. I’m an actor, I know what that feels like.” Jongdae looked up and down the side of Kyungsoo’s jaw again as he spoke, and wondered if his lips were as soft as they looked.

“I don’t see a lot of it. I think the guys who do it are the ones who just really enjoy sex.”

“Ehh, well, that’s good. Sex is enjoyable.” Kyungsoo looked a little awkward.

“I’ll totally suck your dick,” Jongdae blurted, and then gasped out loud at himself. That was absolutely the alcohol talking, combined with the gutter Kyungsoo had led their conversation into. He couldn’t believe he actually said that out loud, out of nowhere, completely unprompted, and hesitated for a moment, thinking that maybe he had dreamt it, but Kyungsoo’s wide eyes told him that he definitely said it. “Holy shit I don’t know why I said that--”

“Are you serious?” Kyungsoo cut him off, and when he realized Jongdae was trying to correct himself he laughed nervously. “Oh, hah, you were kidding.”

Jongdae blinked. For a split second there Kyungsoo seemed interested in the idea. Maaaaaaybe he could-- “I’m serious,” he said, and then immediately wanted to take it back again. No he wasn’t being serious. Or maybe he was. Holy shit he had no idea what he was doing. He _never_ said things like that to people, unless he was really giddy or drunk-- oh. He was both of those things. Oops.

“Are you serious?” Kyungsoo repeated, a grin propping up just the side of his mouth, morphing into a quizzical smile. Jongdae laughed breathily, not knowing what to say. He had just met this guy and probably freaked him out. Goddamnit. Jongdae couldn’t remember doing anything sexual all year, and spending so much time staring at Kyungsoo’s jaw had made him thirstier than he thought.

“If you are,” Jongdae replied, thinking that was an acceptable and possibly flirty thing to say. Kyungsoo grinned very strangely and looked over his shoulders a few times before settling back on Jongdae.

“I mean, wow. I would be stupid to say no, right? Random head is one of the best things in life.”

Jongdae couldn’t believe that was a sentence that had just been spoken to him, and he chuckled at it. “I’m sorry if I’m, uhm, being weird, I just think you’re hot and cool and, uhm, not both of those things at the same time, like temperature-wise. I mean. I like who you are.”

“Thank you,” Kyungsoo smiled. “You’re really cute.”

“Ahh,” Jongdae said, surprised that someone he was attracted to seemed to return his affection.

“Can we actually do this?” Kyungsoo asked, and Jongdae blinked. He was more excited than Jongdae thought he was. Jongdae laughed and racked his brain for a place in the building to suck dick in. Wow this was strange. He knew that when the strippers wanted to do something illegal they went into the private rooms that were supposed to be for lap dances, but Jongdae didn’t have a key to those, and besides, he wasn’t a stripper...that wasn’t his domain. He probably shouldn’t go back there. That left...the bathrooms, which definitely felt like his domain, since he spent a lot of his life cleaning them up.

But that would be stupid. The bathrooms were public places, he couldn’t get away with it...wow he felt drunk. He got up from his barstool and smiled nervously at Kyungsoo. “Let me show you around.”

“Okay,” Kyungsoo grinned at him and got up, glancing over the counter to make sure Jaehwan and Chanyeol weren’t paying attention to them. Jongdae was so thankful that they seemed busy with customers, because he didn’t want to come up with some lie as to why he was running off with Kyungsoo. Holy shit he was running off with Kyungsoo. He had met Kyungsoo a half an hour ago. Holy shit this was _happening_. This job was ridiculous.

He had gotten up without thinking his whole plan through and was left to lead Kyungsoo around the backstage hallway, walking about aimlessly for a few moments before caving in and taking him to the restroom. This was probably so dumb, but he couldn’t think of anything else to do. He looked back at Kyungsoo when the bathroom door closed behind them, and he could tell that the expression on his own face was somewhat pained. “Is this alright?”

“Yeah, it’s fine.” Kyungsoo didn’t seem like he was expecting anything else, and Jongdae was thankful for it. He swallowed. Gay people had a long history of...cruising in public bathrooms. He could do this. This had been done before.

“I keep these rooms clean, I promise, I take pride in my work,” Jongdae tried to joke as he led Kyungsoo into the stall furthest away from the door. He was thankful that the bathroom was empty at the moment. Kyungsoo laughed a little and followed him into the stall, and after Jongdae slid the little lock on the door he turned around and stared at him. The stall was sort of cramped, and it of course smelled like pine-scented cleaner with an undertone of men’s bathroom. But it was manageable, and he would survive.

Kyungsoo gave him a nervous smile, and Jongdae wondered if he could tell how much he was freaking out. “Uhm,” Jongdae said, moving in a circle for a moment like a dog trying to find the most comfortable spot on the couch, and then he stopped and stared at Kyungsoo. “So.”

“How are you feeling?” Kyungsoo asked him, and Jongdae breathed.

“I’m fine, I promise. I’ve just never done this before, in, in here. I’m kinda nervous.” He smiled awkwardly and Kyungsoo’s cheeks rose at the expression.

“Don’t worry about it, this’ll be fun,” he said, and that calmed Jongdae down, even though it wasn’t that remarkable. Jongdae hesitated, and then dropped to his knees on the floor, thinking that was the most logical next step. Kyungsoo shuffled his body in between the wall and Jongdae, and put his hands on his belt. “Want me to do this?”

“Uhm, sure,” Jongdae said, and he watched Kyungsoo unbuckle his belt and pull it open, and then he lifted his hands to undo the button there and pull down his zipper. Their hands moved over each other for a split second and Jongdae liked how soft Kyungsoo’s felt. Kyungsoo put his hands at his sides a little awkwardly, and Jongdae touched his crotch through the black fabric of his boxer shorts.

“Ahh,” Kyungsoo made a sound, and then laughed at himself. “Heheh. That feels good.”

Jongdae couldn’t tell exactly how drunk Kyungsoo was since this was his first time interacting with him, and he hoped he wasn’t so drunk that he couldn’t get an erection. This didn’t seem to be an issue, though, because as Jongdae stroked the length of his dick over his boxers he felt Kyungsoo getting hard. He touched him teasingly for a while, and was surprised at how big it felt. Jongdae could tell already that Kyungsoo’s dick was bigger than his own. He laughed quietly and moved his hand to the waistband of Kyungsoo’s boxers. “Can I take it out?” He asked softly.

“Go for it,” Kyungsoo told him, his voice a little louder than Jongdae’s volume, but Jongdae wasn’t scared by it. He pulled Kyungsoo’s boxers further down his legs, and then moved everything blocking his way down to Kyungsoo’s thighs to clear the space. Kyungsoo’s dick appeared to be hard as hell already, and Jongdae was very glad that Kyungsoo was so excited. He was right, Kyungsoo’s dick was bigger than his, and when Jongdae put his hand around it he felt that it was thicker, too.

“Ah, god,” Kyungsoo said, and Jongdae smiled up at him.

“Try to be quiet, at least, if someone comes in.” Jongdae told him, and Kyungsoo nodded in response. Jongdae rubbed his dick up and down a few times, and swallowed as he stared at it. He looked harder and this was definitely the biggest dick he had ever seen in person. He was entirely surprised that someone of Kyungsoo’s frame would have it, but he figured height had nothing to do with it. He giggled a little. “Your dick’s really big.”

“Heheh, yeah, it’s big,” Kyungsoo laughed too, almost sounding a little proud of himself, and Jongdae managed to hold back a chuckle. “Is that alright?”

“I have a big mouth,” Jongdae said, and immediately thought that was the least sexy thing anyone had ever said ever. He pursed his lips, confused at his inability to be sexy, but hey, he had gotten Kyungsoo this hard already, he figured he was doing fine. He moved his mouth to move his tongue around the tip of Kyungsoo’s cock and Kyungsoo made a soft sound.

He swirled his tongue around the head of Kyungsoo’s cock a few times before taking the tip into his mouth and sucking on it. Kyungsoo whimpered a bit and Jongdae could taste his precum leaking out. Kyungsoo was so turned on, it was making Jongdae’s pants a little bit tighter, but he tried not to think about that and moved his right hand to rub Kyungsoo’s dick up and down as he sucked on the head.

He pulled away for a moment to spit on Kyungsoo’s cock, and then moved his hand across it to make it wetter. Kyungsoo groaned a little bit and Jongdae smirked, moving in to take the tip into his mouth again and hum softly. Kyungsoo choked and Jongdae tried taking his dick in further, getting a little bit more into his mouth before stopping and swirling his tongue around. He massaged Kyungsoo’s cock with his tongue for a while until he pulled back and spit again, starting to stroke Kyungsoo’s cock with his hand harder.

“Is that good?” Jongdae asked him, and Kyungsoo nodded rapidly.

“Yeah, it feels great.” Jongdae smiled at this and moved his tongue up and down the side of Kyungsoo’s cock, letting it feel all of its sides before moving to the tip and licking up the precum there. He felt Kyungsoo shiver and smiled, and took his cock back into his mouth to massage it like he had been doing before.

Jongdae heard the bathroom door open and he stopped, his eyes widening, but he dared not move his mouth off of Kyungsoo’s cock in fear of it making a sound. He waited there for a moment, motionless with a dick in his mouth as he noticed Kyungsoo clenching and unclenching his hand into a fist, and when he heard the person undoing their pants he tried to continue. He was met with the rather unappealing sound of something pissing into a urinal, and he tried to ignore it, focusing on sucking Kyungsoo’s dick as quietly as possible.

He was slow for a while, wanting to play it safe until this person was done washing their hands and had left, and when he heard the door opening again he started to go faster. When the door closed all the way Kyungsoo let out a nervous breath and laughed. “That was scary,” he said, and Jongdae chuckled, the sound very muffled.

Jongdae moved faster now, wanting to let loose since they were alone in the bathroom again. Kyungsoo let out a delicious-sounding groan when Jongdae sped up, and it made Jongdae moan a little bit, too. He took his dick farther in, getting about half of it into his mouth and sucking on it hard. Kyungsoo shook again and Jongdae started to bob his head up and down on his cock.

“Fuck, this is good,” Kyungsoo whispered, and Jongdae felt proud of himself. He tightened his hand’s grip on the base of Kyungsoo’s cock and moved it around, mimicking the way he jerked himself off, and Kyungsoo groaned again. He tried to take Kyungsoo’s cock further into his throat and choked a bit, moving back when he realized he was being too ambitious. He still wasn’t a master of this dick-sucking thing yet.

He bobbed his head up and down on what part of Kyungsoo’s cock he could get into his throat, and decided not to slow down when he heard the bathroom door open again. Kyungsoo made a very quiet, strangled sound, probably surprised, and Jongdae tried to ignore the adrenaline suddenly rushing through his veins. Holy shit there was someone standing a few feet away from him. This was crazy. He could get into so much trouble. This person went about their business and Jongdae tried not to moan around Kyungsoo’s cock, feeling really turned on at the idea of getting caught. That was probably an unhealthy feeling, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it right now.

When the water at the sink started running Kyungsoo moaned softly, and Jongdae felt his cock pulse against his tongue. Jongdae choked farther down on his cock, taking in more than before and feeling a bit more comfortable. When the water stopped running this person seemed to linger at the sink, not moving towards the door, and Jongdae could notice Kyungsoo’s hand clenching again in frustration. Jongdae would’ve smirked had he not had a dick in his mouth, and he started to go even faster, but hesitated at the sloppy sound that made.

The person didn’t seem to notice, because they left without investigating the noise. When the door closed Jongdae started to go again at the faster speed, and Kyungsoo growled lowly, bucking his hips a bit. “Oh god, oh god.”

Jongdae sucked harder as he moved his head up and down, and Kyungsoo shivered again. He felt Kyungsoo’s hand in his hair as he pulled back slowly, and then moved onto his cock again, swirling his tongue around. Kyungsoo made a breathy sound and Jongdae liked it. He sucked faster and felt Kyungsoo’s knees shake. “Ahh, shit, Jongdae, I’m close, I’m gonna cum. Ahh, fuck.”

Jongdae was so glad the room was empty, and he sucked Kyungsoo’s cock a few more times before pulling almost all the way off, moving his tongue around the tip one last time before pulling away and breathing deeply. He started jerking Kyungsoo’s cock in his hand rapidly, trying to replicate the feeling of his mouth, and he looked up to see Kyungsoo’s face scrunch up as he came. Kyungsoo made another strangled sound, this one a little bit louder than before, and Jongdae thought the way he was trying to be quiet but failing was unbearably hot. Jongdae felt Kyungsoo ejaculate into his hand, and lifted his other hand up to rub his cock up and down, coming to a slow before finally stopping.

He listened to Kyungsoo breathing heavily as he reached around to yank out some toilet paper and wipe off his hand. He cleaned his hand off and crumpled up the paper, looking around for a moment before shrugging and throwing it into the toilet. He cleared his throat and looked up at Kyungsoo. “Was that good?”

“That was great,” Kyungsoo breathed, smiling down at him. “Do you want me to return the favor?”

“Uhm,” Jongdae started, and he thought about it. He hadn’t even considered that, just assuming that he was going to suck some dick and then go back to work. He laughed a little as he stood up on wobbly knees. “Sure, if you want!”

Kyungsoo put his hand on Jongdae’s crotch and Jongdae yelped, not expecting it. He tried to calm down but couldn’t help himself, his dick already hard as a rock from how arousing it was to give Kyungsoo a blowjob. Kyungsoo rubbed Jongdae’s crotch with his hand, trying to undo the button and pull down the zipper of his jeans with clumsy fingers, and Jongdae whimpered a bit as Kyungsoo buried his face in his neck.

“Oh, god,” Jongdae said as Kyungsoo moved his hand up and down the front of Jongdae’s boxer briefs, and then he groaned. “Fuck, that feels so good. Fuck, I’m too turned on.”

Kyungsoo laughed at that sentence and rubbed his hand on Jongdae’s cock harder, and Jongdae swallowed hard. “Shit! Kyungsoo, this is embarrassing--”

“What’s that?” Kyungsoo asked him, and Jongdae moaned as Kyungsoo pressed the palm of his hand against Jongdae’s cock and rubbed it around.

“Fuck, this is--” Jongdae felt himself cum against the front of his boxer briefs, and didn’t even care, moaning loudly and immediately remembering to silence himself. He grunted around his lips and shuddered, opening his mouth to make panting breaths, and when he started to calm down Kyungsoo pulled his hand away. Kyungsoo looked down and then up at Jongdae’s face, grinning.

“Sorry I didn’t get to suck it,” he said, and Jongdae laughed breathlessly.

“That’s-- that’s totally fine. I’m sorry I came so fast, you just turned me on--”

“It was hot,” Kyungsoo told him, still smiling, and Jongdae could feel himself blushing.

“Ahh, ahh, shit.” He pulled out some more toilet paper and tried to stuff it down the front of his pants, but his boxers were already stained with cum. Oh well. He cleaned up what he could and threw the paper into the toilet, and then flushed it away. He stared at Kyungsoo while the water made whirly noises, and they both burst out laughing at each other.

“Hell,” Kyungsoo said, and he opened the lock on the door to let himself out. Jongdae fixed his pants and followed him, and smirked as he watched Kyungsoo buckle his belt back up in the mirror. “That was really fun.”

“I’m so glad we didn’t get caught,” Jongdae said, breathing heavy just from his nerves, and Kyungsoo smiled.

“Yeah, me too. But that made it exciting too.”

“Yeah,” Jongdae agreed, and when Kyungsoo started to wash his hands he figured that would be a good thing to do himself. He cleaned his hands off and dried them on his jeans, not wanting to bother with the air dryer. He watched Kyungsoo shake his hands dry and smiled at him. “Uhm, thank you, Kyungsoo.”

“Can I get your number?” Kyungsoo asked him with a smile, and Jongdae felt his heart thump. “I mean, thank you, too.”

“Yeah, of course,” Jongdae said, and Kyungsoo took out his phone to input his number. Jongdae read it off to him and Kyungsoo saved it.

“I’ll text you so you have mine,” Kyungsoo said, putting his phone back in his pocket, and Jongdae nodded.

“Alright. Wow. That was really cool.”

“Chanyeol said you were really fun,” Kyungsoo said, and then he made a nervous, laughy sound. Jongdae laughed at the absurdity of it and nodded.

“Yeah, he told me you were a great guy.”

“Ahh, that’s, that’s nice.” Kyungsoo smiled at himself in the mirror, and they stared at each other for a moment.

“Uhm, I probably need to get back to work, I haven’t been backstage for like, an hour.” Jongdae laughed nervously and Kyungsoo nodded at him.

“That makes sense, you do work here.”

“Yeah. I shouldn’t be taking breaks this long. Hah!” He chuckled at himself, and Kyungsoo couldn’t stop smiling at him.

“I guess I’ll, uhh, go back by myself, so they don’t suspect anything.”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll talk to you later,” Jongdae said, and Kyungsoo waved at him before leaving out the door. Jongdae stared as the door closed behind him, and then stood there for a few moments, thinking over what had just happened. That was undoubtedly the _stupidest_ thing he had ever done and he loved it. Wow. He didn’t know what that all added up to.

After a few moments he made his way backstage, and thought that the vanity area was empty until he saw Hakyeon sitting in his chair, staring at his nails and looking bored out of his mind. Jongdae blinked, feeling like a teenager who had been caught by his parents trying to sneak home. He still felt a little bit drunk and didn’t really want to let Hakyeon know he was drinking on the job, but then he thought about it. This was Hakyeon. He didn’t fucking care.

“I just did something crazy,” Jongdae blurted out, catching Hakyeon’s attention and moving to the chair next to Hakyeon’s. He liked sitting at Tao’s place when Tao wasn’t there, so he sat himself down and stared at Hakyeon with big eyes. Hakyeon stared back at him.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m great. I just-- I just did something crazy.”

“What did you do? Are you going to tell me, or take it to your grave?”

“Uhm, Chanyeol’s roommate is here tonight. Kyungsoo. I just met him.” He blinked, the ridiculousness of that sentence just now settling into his head. “I just met him, and oh my god.”

“I think I know Kyungsoo. He’s cute. What’d he do?”

“I-I sucked his dick in the bathroom.”

“In the _bathroom_?” Hakyeon scrunched up his nose and narrowed his eyes at Jongdae. “Why would you do that in there? You could’ve gotten caught!”

Jongdae was a little amused that Hakyeon took this approach at first. No congratulations, no _oh my god that’s crazy_ , just _what the fuck were you thinking_. It was very strip club mom of him. “Because...” Jongdae hiccuped. “I didn’t know where else to do it.”

“You could’ve used one of the private rooms! That’s where the rest of us go to suck dick, goddamn.”

“But I don’t work here like that,” Jongdae squeaked, feeling stupid. “I’m not a stripper. I’m not allowed back there.”

Hakyeon scoffed loudly and shook his head. “Jongdae, of course you’re allowed to use those rooms! You fucking work here! You should’ve found me so I could’ve let you into one of the rooms!”

“I don’t feel like I should...” Jongdae’s voice got quieter as his sentence went on until he trailed off entirely, and then sighed. “I’m sorry. I guess I made a bad decision.”

“If someone had found you you could’ve gotten _fired_.” Hakyeon groaned.

“If I feel the need to suck another dick at work I’ll use a private room,” Jongdae laughed awkwardly. “But I really don’t think I’ll ever do that again.”

“How drunk are you?” Hakyeon got up from his chair and moved over to Jongdae, and put a hand on Jongdae’s cheek when he got there. Jongdae stared up at the hard expression Hakyeon was making and didn’t know how he kept himself from laughing.

“I was drunker earlier but I think it’s going away now. I don’t feel as floaty.”

“Oh my god, Jongdae. Oh my god.” Hakyeon laughed out loud and plopped back down in his chair. “You were right, you are being crazy. You said you just met Kyungsoo?”

“Like a fucking hour ago.”

“You’re a wild man,” Hakyeon said, and Jongdae couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not. Hakyeon stared at him with a little smile, and then it broke into a huge grin. “I’m proud of you.”

“Oh my god! Don’t be proud of me! I feel, I feel--”

“Do you feel bad?”

“Not at all. I just feel like I could’ve lost my job!” Jongdae groaned at himself. “That was stupid! But it was really, really hot and I liked doing it! Ugh!”

Hakyeon laughed again and the sound calmed Jondae down a bit. “Well if you’re back here in one piece then I think you’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, I don’t think anyone noticed anything. Holy shit. I feel so light.”

“I have to go out and dance, but try not to float into the ceiling lights, okay?” Hakyeon got up and put his hand on Jongdae’s wrist, patting it a few times, and Jongdae smiled at him.

“Okay, yeah. Have fun. Please don’t-- please don’t tell anyone,” he blinked a few times, “I don’t want anyone else to know.”

“Of course not, baby,” Hakyeon smiled at him before heading out the curtain. Jongdae followed him with his eyes and sighed after he left, now alone in the backstage area. Everyone else was either grinding on someone or hiding in their dressing room. He was okay with being alone right now. His phone went off, and he checked to see that Kyungsoo had texted him. It caused a giggly feeling in his chest and he laughed out loud.

This was weird. He was mostly sure he wasn’t actually interested in Kyungsoo outside of wanting to bang him, and that was a feeling he hadn’t had in a while. Usually when he crushed on someone it was all-encompassing and really annoying. He figured he didn’t have a crush on Kyungsoo, and just liked his company. That was good too. He was young, and he could do whatever he wanted.

He looked at himself in the reflection of Tao’s mirror, and laughed again at the stupid, clownish grin on his face. That was probably going to be hard to wipe off of his face tonight. He could tell this bubbly mood was going to last for a while.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOL I DOUBT ANYONE SAW THAT COMING, YEAH THAT'S KIND OF THE WAY THIS STORY IS GOING TO BE LOL. I HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT.  
> i wrote ksoo porn on his birthday, HAPPY FUCKING BIRTHDAY KYUNGSOO LMAO


	5. (nsfw) yixing steps up to the plate

The weekend went by, and on Monday night Jongdae was a little bit tired at work because he had spent most of Sunday writing his Jazz History paper. He hadn’t been able to take a nap after classes, and he felt sort of cranky, which made him feel like a child. He was sitting at Yixing’s vanity this time, since Tao was plopped down at his own tapping away at his phone. Yixing didn’t keep his desk very clean but Jongdae still found enough space to open his laptop there. Jongdae’s eyes were blinking blearily at his reflection in the mirror when Minseok came by and wordlessly placed a can of Coke in front of him. Jongdae opened his eyes and stared at it, and then glanced over at Minseok, who had moved over to his own vanity but was still watching Jongdae with wide, squirrely eyes. Jongdae smiled at him.

“Is this for me?” He asked, picking up the soda can, and Minseok nodded.

“You look tired. We only have another hour and a half until closing, try to keep your head up,” Minseok told him, and Jongdae hummed softly to himself. Everyone working here was so nice.

“Thank you, Minseok.” Jongdae didn’t have the heart to tell him that caffeine didn’t work on his body as well as it was advertised, so he popped open the tab and took a sip from it anyway. Maybe the sugar would wake him up.

Kai came backstage through the curtain after his set was done, and instead of making a silent beeline to his area like he normally did, he lingered around the curtain, walking in wobbly little circles. Jongdae felt strange watching him move around in the mirror, since Kai was wearing nothing but a little pair of dark blue underwear, but he had gotten so accustomed to seeing everyone here nearly naked that it hardly felt sexual anymore. Kai was fussing with some sort of mesh fabric in his hands, and Jongdae assumed it had at one point in the night been worn as a shirt.

Jongdae blinked, tired of watching Kai fidget by himself, and turned around in his chair to look at Kai. “Hey, you alright? Did your dance go okay?”

Kai actually jumped when he heard Jongdae’s voice, and it made Jongdae more concerned. “Oh, yes, it was fine. I’m fine. Did Hakyeon go home already?”

“I think he’s in his dressing room. Or he’s with someone.”

“Oh.” Kai said quietly, staring in the direction of the hallway that led to the dressing rooms, and Jongdae watched him for another moment.

“You’re allowed to go back there and look for him, if you want.”

“Maybe I...okay.” Kai pursed his lips and walked to his vanity, putting his mesh shirt thing down on his chair and searching around for his pair of jeans, as was his custom. Jongdae had picked up on how bashful Kai could get when he wasn’t working, because he always put clothes on whenever he came backstage. He thought it was sort of cute. He watched Kai put his jeans on out of the corner of his eye, and then looked away when he saw Kai staring at his reflection in the mirror, thinking that Kai was having a private moment that he shouldn’t intrude on. He moved his fingers on the trackpad of his laptop to get the screen to light up again.

Jongdae’s attention perked up once more when he saw Kai heading in the direction of the dressing rooms, and he turned around in his chair completely when Hakyeon came out of the hallway, nearly bumping into Kai. The two stared at each other for a moment until Hakyeon broke the silence. “My last eyeliner pencil just broke in half and now it won’t fit in the sharpener. Say something nice to me before I burn this whole place down.”

Minseok let out a dry laugh and Jongdae almost burst out laughing at just the sound. Minseok easily made himself invisible and when his voice popped up out of nowhere Jongdae always found it funny. He saw Hakyeon grinning at Kai and assumed Kai was laughing from the way his shoulders were bouncing.

“I’m sorry. Do you want to use mine?”

“No, I’m fine. I don’t actually need it, I was just fucking with it because I was bored. I suppose I deserve it for challenging its dignity, or something.” Hakyeon sighed. “I’ll just get a few more tomorrow.”

“Hakyeon, I wanted to ask you if you knew how old Junmyeon was,” Kai said quickly, and with this Jongdae’s interest was completely piqued. He turned around in his chair and watched them with big eyes, perhaps too big, because Hakyeon noticed the movement and gave Jongdae a strange look.

“What’s that face for?” Hakyeon asked him, and Kai turned to look in the direction Hakyeon was smirking in. Jongdae frowned a little.

“I want to learn everything about everyone,” Jongdae responded, and it made Hakyeon laugh. Kai chuckled in a way that made him show a cute smile and Jongdae felt accomplished for the day.

“Nah, I don’t know how old Junmyeon is,” Hakyeon said, moving around Kai to go to his vanity. He glanced back at him for a second to shoot him an incredulous look. “Why? Did he tell you something unbelievable?”

“No, he, he didn’t tell me anything. That’s why I’m curious.” Kai poked his fingers together for a moment before retreating back to his chair. Jongdae glanced in between him and Hakyeon a few times. “I thought maybe you’d know.”

“No, he doesn’t really talk about himself when he talks to me.” The side of Hakyeon’s mouth raised in a tired, contemplative expression. “I don’t know how old he is.”

“Oh, okay.” Kai sat down in his chair and looked pensive for a moment.

“Minseokkie,” Hakyeon said, looking over his shoulder at Minseok, and Minseok glanced up from his phone.

“Yes?”

“Do you know how old Junmyeon is?”

Minseok made a face like he didn’t even know who Hakyeon was talking about, but then bit his lip into his mouth. “No. He’s older than twenty-one, I guess?” Jongdae was curious as to why every fucking person here knew this guy, but it didn’t take him more than five seconds to figure that they had probably all been paid for lap dances. Junmyeon seemed to be kind of a straightforward person.

“Older than twenty-one,” Hakyeon relayed to Kai, and as Kai nodded at him, Tao cleared his throat.

“He’s twenty-three,” Tao said. “He’s my age.”

Hakyeon blinked at Tao a few times. “Why didn’t you just say that when Jongin first asked me?” Jongdae was always a little thrown off when people called Kai by his real name, and it made him feel like he should get used to it. Maybe he prefered being called Jongin. Jongdae had never asked.

“I hear you guys talking but I don’t always pay attention,” Tao excused himself, not looking up from the puzzle game on his phone. Jongdae almost admired how determined he was to stick to his casual indifference.

“He’s twenty-three? Really?” Jongdae asked, pursing his lips. “For some reason I thought he was younger. He looks young.”

“Maybe because he’s short,” Tao suggested.

“I thought he was older than that,” Hakyeon said. “I don’t really see him as your age, Tao.”

Tao only grunted in response, apparently done with this conversation already, but before someone could tell him he was being rude he spoke again. “He told me that he was my age but I haven’t seen a birth certificate or anything.”

“I went on a date with him,” Kai piped up out of nowhere, and nearly every set of eyes in the room went to him, even Tao’s perched over his iPhone, trying to look disinterested but not doing a very good job of it. Kai laughed very nervously. “Stop that, guys.”

“I didn’t think he dated,” Tao said, looking back at his phone.

Jongdae bounced a bit on his toes, remembering how last week Junmyeon had said he was going to ask Kai out. Jongdae hadn’t actually believed him, since he sort of remembered Junmyeon being drunk and very awkward, but apparently he had gone through with it. He was glad to have coordinated such an event. “Kai, was it fun? Did you guys get along?”

“Yeah, it was fun. He’s really nice.”

“What did you guys do?”

“Jongdae, don’t encourage this,” Tao groaned, shooting Jongdae an exasperated look, and Jongdae scoffed at him.

“Tao, don’t be _mean_.” Jongdae frowned at him, and Tao shrugged a little, going back to his phone. Jongdae brought his smile back to Kai. “Ignore him. What happened?”

“Uhm,” Kai fidgeted a little in his chair. “We went to Starbucks. I had my dogs with me so we just got drinks and then went on a walk. It wasn’t really...a traditional date, I guess.”

“Sounds pretty traditional to me,” Hakyeon said, and Jongdae nodded.

“That sounds really cute.”

“Ahh,” Kai was grinning ear to ear and avoiding eye contact with anyone, and Jongdae thought it was precious. “It was nice. We just talked a lot and, and he played with my dogs. They like him a lot. And that’s, that’s the seal of approval.”

“Are you gonna see him again?” Jongdae asked, and Kai blinked.

“I think so. I’d like to.”

“Ahh! That’s really great!” Jongdae grinned, unable to shake the feeling that he was responsible for a happy new relationship. Kai smiled back at him.

“Yeah, I’m glad. Thanks for helping him get the courage to ask me out.” Kai gave Jongdae a cheeky grin, and Jongdae laughed.

“Ahh, I don’t know about that.”

“What’s that mean?” Hakyeon asked, his eyes a little quivery, and Jongdae stifled laughter at him. Hakyeon had that look on his face that happened when he was upset about one of his strip club babies growing up, and apparently Kai starting to date was coming as a shock to him. Jongdae grinned at him, showing his teeth.

“Junmyeon was just nervous and asked me to help him, that’s all.”

“Didn’t ask me,” Hakyeon mumbled, and Jongdae snorted.

“Maybe he thought you’d be an overprotective mom about it.”

“Hey, hey, I am not.”

“Maybe he was planning on asking you but I ended up being able to help him quicker.” Jongdae shrugged. “It’s fine, Hakyeon.”

“Jonginnie, be safe,” Hakyeon told Kai, and Kai smiled awkwardly at him.

“Yeah, of course. I wouldn’t be hanging out with Junmyeon if I thought he was going to freak out on me.”

“Yeah, I know. He’s harmless.” Hakyeon sighed heavily and Jongdae didn’t know how he was holding back his laughter. Hakyeon was always so entertaining, especially when he got all motherly. Jongdae watched him stare into space for a while, his face looking meditative, and then turned back to Kai.

“I hope you guys have a lot of fun together.”

“I doubt you’ll last a week,” Tao jeered, and Jongdae scowled at him, trying to forget the vaguely hurt look on Kai’s face.

“Tao, why are you being such a jerk? If Kai’s happy I don’t see what the problem is.”

“You can call me Jongin,” Kai said quietly, his eyes darting away from Jongdae’s when Jongdae moved to look at him. Jongdae frowned a little.

“Sorry, I didn’t know what you liked.” Jongdae kept his eyes trained on Tao, who had already looked away from him and was trying to refocus on his phone. Jongdae was a little pissed off that Tao was being such a brat, but when Tao got like this there usually wasn’t anything he could do. He sighed and opened his mouth to say something to him, but nothing came out.

“Yixing,” Jongdae heard Hakyeon’s voice calling out, and he looked up to see Yixing coming into the backstage area from the main floor. He threw the curtain back and straightened his mouth into a flat line, staring at the small group of people all sitting at their vanities. He was shirtless, wearing a pair of tight-looking leather pants and nothing else, and Jongdae wondered how his crotch breathed. Jongdae wondered a lot of things about Yixing’s crotch, especially right now, when it was looking particularly impressive.

“Hi.” Yixing blinked at Hakyeon. “I have work to do. I’m so busy tonight. You!” Yixing started, pointing his index finger at Jongdae accustorily, and it took Jongdae a moment to stop staring at Yixing’s bare chest and pay attention to what he was saying. “I’ve been paid to give you a lap dance. Come on, I wanna make money.”

Jongdae stared at Yixing with one eyebrow raised, not believing what he was hearing. Hakyeon was chuckling under his breath and Jongdae tried to ignore it. “What are you talking about? Who’s paying you to give _me_ a lap dance?”

“That’s classified information. Worker-client confidentiality.”

“That’s for doctors or whatever.”

“No, it’s for strippers too. Come on, Jongdae. Or should I just wait around here for ten minutes and then go back and tell them I did it?” Yixing smirked at him. “Do you not want to get a _boner_ tonight?”

Jongdae heard Tao snickering at him, and even picked up on a little chuckle from Kai. “This is weird!” Jongdae said, but he couldn’t help but laugh at how playful Yixing was being, and he stood up from his chair. “Fine, but I wanna know who did this. Is Chanyeol making you do this? Is it Jaehwan?”

“If I tell you, I’ll get fired.” Yixing grabbed Jongdae’s hand and pulled him out of the room, faster than Jongdae could even send a quick, confused glance back at Hakyeon. Yixing led him down the hallway, past the dressing rooms and towards the private rooms in the back of the club. Yixing knocked on the door with a golden 5 painted on it, and then pulled a small set of keys out of his back pocket. Jongdae wondered how he fit anything into the tight leather. Yixing let Jongdae into the room and Jongdae swallowed, looking around. The room was small, feeling more like a walk-in closet with anything, with a mirror on one wall and a little bench on the other.

He had worked at the club for months but he had never actually gotten a lap dance there. He had watched a few, but never participated, not because he didn’t want to, but because he always thought it would feel weird to spend money where he worked. Yixing locked the door behind them and Jongdae whipped his head around at the sound.

“Are you gonna kill me?” Jongdae asked him jokingly, and Yixing let out an unattractive snort.

“And hide the body where? Well, I guess if I kill the janitor, there won’t be anyone who comes back here looking to clean up.” Yixing shrugged as if he was considering it, and then pushed on Jongdae’s shoulders, getting him to sit down on the little bench on the opposite side of the room. Jongdae could feel his eyes widening as he watched Yixing struggle out of his pants.

“I gotta take these off, they’re tight as hell.” Yixing grunted as he kicked his pants off of his feet, and Jongdae swallowed hard as he stared at the small pair of maroon boxer briefs Yixing was wearing. The bulge on the front of them was pretty damn intimidating, and Jongdae looked him up and down, his eyes lingering on Yixing’s thighs.

He heard Yixing laugh shortly at him. “You think I’m hot, don’t you?”

“Ahh,” Jongdae started, and then chuckled quietly at himself. “I mean, of course I do. You’re hot.”

“Thanks.” Yixing smiled, and then picked up his discarded pants to search around the pockets. He pulled a small mp3 player out of one of them - Jongdae was totally impressed that he could fit so many things into those pants - and moved to hook it up to the small stereo by the door. He watched Yixing scroll through songs on it, and then stop on something soft. It was electronic, Jongdae could tell, even though it wasn’t very loud, and when Yixing turned up the volume Jongdae still didn’t recognize it.

Yixing listened to a lot of electronic music, so Jongdae assumed it was in the vein of the music he would play backstage when he was bored. Yixing turned around and looked at Jongdae, his face telling nothing, and then climbed onto Jongdae’s lap without warning. Jongdae sat back until he hit the wall, staring up at Yixing’s face with big eyes. He was surprised that Yixing was getting right to it, but he had never actually gotten a lap dance before, so he didn’t know what was normal. Yixing’s face looked a little softer than Jongdae was used to, and Jongdae figured maybe Yixing could tell how weirded out he was right now.

Jongdae swallowed. He didn’t want to seem weirded out, because this was actually kind of cool, but he couldn’t help it. This was so sudden and random and what the hell. There was a guy on his lap.

“I’m sorry,” he managed to say, and Yixing exhaled air out of his nose.

“What are you apologizing for?”

“I’ve never done this before. I don’t know what to do.” Jongdae clenched his hands a few times as Yixing moved to rest his palms on Jongdae’s shoulders.

“You can do whatever you want, I don’t care. I know you’re harmless.” Yixing started moving his hips in a circular motion on Jongdae’s lap, and Jongdae actually made a sound, surprised at the way it felt. Yixing laughed a little and kept moving, then raised his face to look Jongdae in the eye. “Just relax.”

“I am relaxed,” Jongdae said, and as the music picked up in tempo Yixing started to move faster. Jongdae swallowed, feeling his legs twitch. “Uhm, if I get hard, that’s okay, right? I don’t think I can help it.”

Yixing laughed at him but for some reason it didn’t sound condescending. “That’s the fuckin’ point, Jongdae, get as hard as you can.” As soon as he said this Jongdae could feel blood rushing to his dick, as if his body had required permission to get an erection. He tried to whimper as quietly as possible as Yixing rubbed his crotch on Jongdae’s through his jeans, and Jongdae felt himself staring at the bulge in the front of Yixing’s boxers.

“Damnit,” Jongdae muttered under his breath as his dick got harder, and Yixing laughed.

“You’re cute as hell,” Yixing told him, and the compliment made Jongdae laugh shortly. Yixing started to slow down, moving his hips very languidly across Jongdae’s crotch, and Jongdae could feel his erection trying to escape from his pants. This was a very weird feeling, but whenever Yixing dragged his crotch over Jongdae’s, Jongdae could tell how it could be intoxicating.

Jongdae’s cock was straining at the front of his jeans, and he wasn’t the least bit surprised at how he had gotten so hard so quickly, especially not with the way Yixing was biting his lower lip into his mouth. Jongdae studied his face for a moment before looking down to ogle his bulge on his lap. He could tell that Yixing’s dick was kind of hard too and it turned him on even more. Holy shit. This was nice, even though he knew it was just teasing and would be over soon.

“How much did you get paid to do this?” Jongdae asked softly, and Yixing chuckled from his throat lowly, looking away from Jongdae’s eyes for a moment and avoiding the question. The dodging only made Jongdae grin.

“I hope you got paid enough,” Jongdae followed it up, and Yixing laughed again, moving himself off of Jongdae’s lap for a moment. Jongdae watched him turn around and place his ass right back down on his crotch, and Jongdae let out another small sound, feeling his cock jump.

“I certainly did,” Yixing told him, and Jongdae swallowed hard as Yixing started to rub his ass on his crotch faster. Jongdae whimpered again and made a face at himself, disliking how he sounded like a scared little puppy. Yixing didn’t seem to mind, though, as he moved his ass up and down on Jongdae’s jeans and let out a short breath.

Jongdae really wished he could take his pants off, but he knew that would be frowned upon; at least, he would feel weird about it. This was supposed to be Yixing’s job, not some sort of masturbatory aid. He grunted and moaned softly as Yixing worked his hips on him, and apparently was clenching and unclenching his hand too much because Yixing reached back and grabbed it.

“Hey,” Jongdae told him, and Yixing put Jongdae’s hand on his ass. Jongdae laughed out loud out of nervousness, not knowing what other sound to make, and it made Yixing laugh too.

“Enjoy yourself,” Yixing told him, and Jongdae felt more weird than anything as he groped his coworker’s ass. It felt hot, though, so he wasn’t about to stop. He had half a mind to slap it but was glad he could keep himself in check enough to not do that, because he didn’t know how Yixing would respond.

The song came to an end and suddenly Yixing was off of him, turning around so he could face Jongdae with an amused look on his face. Jongdae blinked up at him. That couldn’t have been more than five minutes but it had felt like an eternity, and now he was sitting there with his dick hard as a rock with a very scantily clad stripper in front of him. For some reason he felt more mature now than he did when he had entered the room, as if he had just completed some rite of passage.

“I get paid for the song,” Yixing smirked down at him, and Jongdae scooted up on the bench to straighten out his posture.

“That was a lot of fun,” Jongdae told him, trying to sound as grateful as possible. Yixing kept the smirk on his face as he stretched out his arms.

“Tell me if I’m about to say something stupid,” Yixing told him as he slid down onto his knees on the floor, moving one hand across Jongdae’s crotch. Jongdae stared at him.

“Uhm, okay?”

“I want to give you a blowjob,” Yixing smirked at him, and Jongdae stared right back, making no expression. What the fuck. Surely there was something going on, this was too weird, this kind of straightforwardness was so out of the ordinary for Yixing that Jongdae was almost freaked out. He had to be drugged, or drunk, or something. Jongdae laughed weakly.

“Are you high?” He questioned, and Yixing scoffed.

“What kind of response? Jongdae.” Yixing sighed and moved his hand away from Jongdae’s crotch, raising both hands to put on his face, looking exasperated. “Was that stupid of me, then? Should I not have asked that?”

Jongdae had no idea what was going on but for some reason he still felt like he was losing. He could feel that his eyes were wide as dinner plates, and when he checked his reflection in the mirror on the wall he saw he looked sufficiently freaked out. “Yixing, I’m sorry.”

“I made things weird between us. Forget it.” Jongdae thought that maybe Yixing was on something but his face staring blankly up at him was incredibly sober. Jongdae felt as if he had wronged Yixing in some way.

“No, no, you didn’t. You want to give me a blowjob? Go for it,” Jongdae swallowed, thinking back on how last week he was promised one from Kyungsoo but hadn’t gotten it because apparently a handjob was too much for him. He was due. The thought made him smile a bit and he put his hand on Yixing’s shoulder, trying to rouse him back into the spirit of giving. “Serious.”

“I feel like you’re taking _pity_ on me,” Yixing said, sounding mopey, and Jongdae recognized it as the voice he put on when he was being fake-miserable to Hakyeon. Jongdae couldn’t fucking tell if Yixing was actually upset or just pretending, but he was entertained anyway.

“I’m not, I just wanna get my dick sucked. You’re hot as hell and you just rubbed your ass all over me.” Jongdae stopped himself from laughing out loud just in time to catch the all-knowing smirk on Yixing’s face.

“Awesome,” Yixing told him as he moved his hand back to Jongdae’s crotch, undoing the button on his jeans. Jongdae breathed slowly.

“Did you get paid for this, too?” He asked as Yixing pulled his zipper down.

Yixing snorted. “No, I just wanna see this dick.” He yanked Jongdae’s boxers down enough to pull out his erection, and Jongdae noticed it actually throb once Yixing got his hand on it. Yixing licked his lips and it caused a tickle in the back of Jongdae’s knees. Holy shit he was getting head at work. At least he was in a private room this time. Yixing put his tongue on the tip of Jongdae’s dick and swirled it around, tasting the head slowly, and Jongdae couldn’t help but moan.

Yixing spit on Jongdae’s cock, watching the saliva drip down before moving his hand across it and getting it wet. Jongdae breathed and watched him, part of him wishing they were alone back in his room at school, naked and teasing each other. That was a weird thought. He had never thought about Yixing in this way, but after the past ten minutes he was now intrigued.

He watched the clear precum dribble out of his cock, and moaned when Yixing moved his tongue to lap it up. Yixing was moving slowly, and it intensified every turn of his tongue. Yixing spit on him again, and Jongdae thrusted his hips ever-so-slightly when his cock felt wet and warm. He couldn’t remember the last time he had gotten head but he already knew this was better. Yixing wrapped his mouth around the tip of his cock and started to move down, and Jongdae moaned again.

Yixing moved his head up and down on Jongdae’s cock very slowly, and Jongdae closed his eyes, feeling his head tilt back as Yixing worked him. This felt incredible. He whimpered again, but didn’t feel self-conscious this time, instead feeling kind of sexy because Yixing could make him make such a sound. After a while Jongdae could feel his cock hitting the back of Yixing’s throat, and he groaned, his hips moving in tandem with Yixing’s mouth as Yixing bobbed up and down on him.

Jongdae thought that it was too soon for him to feel so hot, but with Yixing’s tongue rolling up and down the side of his cock he felt like he was going to explode. He moaned softly, and gritted his teeth when he felt heat shooting up his dick. “Oh god, I’m gonna cum. Fucking, Yixing, I’m gonna cum. I’m gonna--”

He was expecting Yixing to pull away but he didn’t, and feeling Yixing’s throat pulse around his twitching dick made his orgasm even more intense. He felt Yixing swallow against his cock, and Jongdae’s whole body shivered, feeling totally drained. He moaned again when Yixing pulled off of him, and was barely able to keep his eyes open and blink down at Yixing in between his legs.

Yixing was smirking at him in the most lascivious way and it made Jongdae laugh out loud. He sat up again, still feeling as if he had to correct his posture, and he moved to put his dick back into his pants. “Holy shit.”

“Was that good?”

“Do I have to pay you? Holy shit. Holy _shit_ ,” Jongdae repeated, and Yixing laughed at him.

“Don’t fucking pay me. I did that because I wanted to.”

“That was so hot,” Jongdae told him, and he swallowed, considering his recent record and thinking maybe he had a problem with cumming too fast. Or maybe he just kept having partners who were too good at what they were doing. Whatever it was, he liked it, because having orgasms was a lot of fun. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Jongdae.” Yixing blinked at him with an unrecognizable look in his eyes, and Jongdae figured he was just being mysterious as usual. He got up onto his feet and went over to the stereo to turn his mp3 player off, but Jongdae got up on wobbly feet and shook his hands at him.

“Wait,” he told him, and he started to push his shoes off of his feet. Yixing watched him, curious, and Jongdae moved to push him down onto the bench before worming his way out of his jeans. “I wanna do something silly.”

“What are you doing?” Yixing grinned at him, and Jongdae paused to enjoy the expression. It was more relaxed than he had seen Yixing all night, and he liked it. Jongdae wondered why he had been so stiff earlier.

“Can I try to give you a lap dance?” He kicked his jeans off, and Yixing burst out laughing, looking away from him.

“Oh my god! You can _try_ ,” Yixing scoffed, spreading his legs further on the bench, and Jongdae smiled at him nervously.

“I know I’ll be terrible. But seeing you do it made me want to try.”

“Maybe if you’re good enough I can get you a promotion,” Yixing joked, and Jongdae frowned at him.

“No, I don’t want that.”

“It was a joke. Turn around,” Yixing told him, motioning a twirl with his fingers, and Jongdae thought it was a bit of a strange request but he did it anyway. Yixing whistled when Jongdae spun, and then smiled up at him. “You have such a great ass. It’s a pity you’re the janitor.”

“Whaaat!” Jongdae grinned at him, feeling his face go red. He stood there motionless for a moment, staring at Yixing. “Should I put a particular song on?”

“Just do whatever,” Yixing said, his eyes still focused on Jongdae’s crotch. Jongdae swallowed, trying to get his nerves. He was pretty sure he wouldn’t get hard again, since he had just had an orgasm and usually his recovery time took a while, but he wasn’t sure about that. He was only wearing his tight orange boxer briefs and a t-shirt, and he felt like he was about to get into bed, not give someone a lap dance. But he stared at Yixing’s shirtless chest rising and falling with excited breaths and it pumped him up.

“Alright,” Jongdae told him, and he moved to straddle Yixing’s lap as Yixing had done to him before. Yixing smiled at him when he sat down, and Jongdae hesitated once more, not knowing what to do next. He sat there for a moment until Yixing barked a laugh at him.

“I know I’m hard already but you have to move,” Yixing said to him, and Jongdae squawked. Yixing’s dick was stiff and trying to break out from the tight boxers that were holding it captive, and Jongdae could feel it poking into his thigh. The skin on Yixing’s neck felt warm under his hand, and he smelled nice, like a subtly spicy cologne Jongdae thought he recognized. He wanted to reach down, pull Yixing’s dick out, and start riding it right there. Suddenly Yixing was the hottest person in the world to him. He was okay with this.

Jongdae started to move his hips in more or less the same circular motion Yixing had worked on him, and he saw a little smile grow on Yixing’s face. “That’s it,” Yixing told him, and Jongdae kept doing it, trying not to increase in speed even though he wanted to. “If you don’t know what to do, just rub your ass on my dick. That’s all it is,” Yixing advised him, and Jongdae laughed shortly.

Giving Yixing a lap dance was more difficult than he thought it would be, not because the movement was hard, but because he had an overwhelming desire to ride Yixing’s dick but he knew he couldn’t. He was horny and this was a strange way to deal with it. He tried moving his crotch up and down on Yixing’s cock, but after a while he felt more like a little dog humping someone’s leg than anything else, and he stopped, looking Yixing in the face. “Is this good?”

“You’re so cute,” Yixing told him, and that wasn’t really the response Jongdae was anticipating. Oh well. He bit his lip into his mouth and tried to move faster, and enjoyed when Yixing made a small sound and closed his eyes, feeling like he had accomplished something. Yixing put his hand on Jongdae’s thigh and felt it up and down for a moment. “Turn around.”

“Alright,” Jongdae told him breathlessly, trying to turn around in Yixing’s lap without getting up. He held onto Yixing’s leg for balance until he was all the way turned around and staring at his reflection in the mirror. He looked like a horny teenager, which was fitting, because he felt like one, and essentially was one. He felt Yixing’s hand on his ass and he squeaked.

“Fuck, you have such a great ass. I can’t believe it. Mm,” Yixing said as he groped Jongdae’s butt, and Jongdae grinned, feeling his face burn red as he moved his ass on Yixing’s dick. He felt it stiff and big prodding against his skin, and it made him breathe a little quicker. Holy hell he was turned on. He moved his ass around in Yixing’s lap faster and let out a shaky whimper when he felt Yixing slap his ass. “You’re so hot.”

“Thank you,” Jongdae laughed, feeling a little foolish. Watching himself giving Yixing a lap dance in the mirror was kind of strange to look at, and the longer he watched himself the more he giggled. At one point he stopped, looking away from his reflection and cackling under his breath, and he could hear Yixing laughing at him.

“You’re goofy as hell,” Yixing told him, and Jongdae could hear the smile in his voice. Jongdae made a little sound.

“This is really funny to me, I can’t help it,” Jongdae excused himself.

Yixing groped Jongdae’s ass with both hands and Jongdae didn’t know how he held back the whine that was trying to get out. “Jongdae, I wanna fuck you.” Jongdae felt his muscles tense, and he stared straight ahead, feeling strange. Oh my god this was actually happening. Yixing’s hands felt gentler on his skin, rubbing him up and down. “Can I fuck you, babe? I think you deserve what I’m gonna give you.”

That sentence made his limp cock want to stand at attention, but suddenly Jongdae felt apprehensive. He had been horny as hell earlier but now when he was faced with actually having sex with Yixing he was a little freaked out. He was at work. He couldn’t just...have sex at work. He knew other people did but that made Jongdae feel scared, especially after last week in the bathroom. He swallowed and scooted off of Yixing, wobbling a bit before flopping down on the ground and turning around so he could look up at Yixing from his spot sitting on the floor.

“Uhm,” Jongdae started, and felt kind of small when he saw how Yixing was looking at him with a lecherous grin. He smiled up at him anyway, not feeling scared, just a little out of place. “You mean right here?”

“Yeah. No one will come by the room since it’s locked. No one’s gonna bother us.” Yixing was grinning at him and Jongdae could feel his heart racing. “Wanna have some fun?”

“I...” Jongdae swallowed and sat up. “We’re at work. I don’t, I don’t know.”

Yixing frowned at him, but he didn’t look entirely disappointed. “Jongdae, I can promise you we won’t get caught.”

“I’m not worried about that. I just, ahh,” Jongdae scooted closer to Yixing, so that he could slip in between his knees, and he looked up at him. “If we’re gonna fuck I wanna do it at one of our places,” he smirked, and it turned into a grin when he saw the smile that grew on Yixing’s face.

“I can arrange that,” Yixing said.

“Can I suck your dick?” Jongdae asked, still feeling overwhelmingly horny, and Yixing nodded.

“Of fucking course you can.” Jongdae pulled Yixing’s rock-hard dick out of his boxers, and Yixing let out a tiny hiss. Jongdae thought the sound was comical and he smirked, rubbing Yixing’s dick up and down in his hand. He had pretty much already felt its size when he was dancing on him, but seeing it outside of his boxers was a new beast. It wasn’t as big as Kyungsoo’s was -- which Jongdae was almost thankful for, Kyungsoo’s dick was kind of too big -- but still intimidating looking, which Jongdae liked. He took the head into his mouth and started to suck on it, and Yixing sighed.

Jongdae felt the tip twitching in his mouth, and he pulled away to spit on it. He stroked Yixing’s cock with his hand and took the tip back into his mouth, licking the top of it and feeling tingly when he tasted his salty precum. Yixing’s cock was already throbbing, probably turned on beyond belief from all of the teasing it had been through. Jongdae moaned as he took more of it into his mouth, swirling his tongue all around it.

He pulled up and spit on it again, and Yixing laughed a little, the sound breathy and warm. “That’s it, baby. Ahh, you know what you’re doing.” He put his hand on Jongdae’s head when Jongdae put his cock back into his mouth, and Jongdae bobbed his head up and down, gathering that that was what Yixing wanted. Yixing grunted at the movement and Jongdae liked the sound. “Fuck, fuck yeah.”

Yixing’s dick was easier to get down his throat than Kyungsoo’s was, and Jongdae liked the way it felt when it was stretching him out. He assumed Yixing liked it too, because he kept cursing under his breath and bunching up Jongdae’s hair in his fist. Jongdae moaned again when he felt Yixing’s cock deep down his throat, and had to pull up a bit, still not great at that. Yixing whimpered and ran his fingers through Jongdae’s hair. “Breathe out your nose,” he told him, and Jongdae almost laughed.

Jongdae tried breathing out his nose slower than before, and found that it was easier to take more of Yixing’s cock into his throat. He hadn’t thought that was actually going to be helpful but it was. He choked once more when Yixing thrusted against him, and Yixing laughed a little. “Sorry, I won’t do that.”

“Mmm,” Jongdae responded, trying to get back to where he was, and Yixing moaned. Jongdae started to hum on his cock, picking up on how Yixing liked the vibration, and Yixing cursed under his breath. He moved up and down on Yixing’s cock, feeling how big it was in his throat, and then taking it in and out to get it as wet as possible. Yixing made a strangled sound and then groaned.

“Fuck, that feels so fucking good,” he told him, and Jongdae would’ve smiled if he had been able to. He sucked harder around Yixing’s dick and moaned when he could feel it twitching. He moved his hand to massage Yixing’s balls and almost immediately he felt Yixing’s dick throbbing in his throat. “Fuck, _fuck_ , Jongdae, I’m close.”

Usually Jongdae didn’t like swallowing but he remembered what Yixing had done for him, and thought that maybe that would be the most polite thing to do. He wasn’t entirely sure of blowjob etiquette yet. Yixing cursed again when Jongdae took him all the way into his throat, said something exhaustedly that sounded sort of like Chinese, and then moaned when he was done cumming. Jongdae felt it go down his throat and he was glad he didn’t have to taste anything. He pulled up and off of Yixing’s dick when he was done, and took a deep breath.

“Ew,” he couldn’t help himself as he felt Yixing’s slimy dick leave his mouth, and Yixing laughed, still breathing heavily.

“C’mere, you.” He grabbed Jongdae’s hand and pulled him up, and before Jongdae knew it Yixing had his lips on his, kissing him deeply as he moved one hand on the back of Jongdae’s head. Jongdae made a soft, pleased sound, and made himself comfortable in Yixing’s lap. They made out for a while, Jongdae losing himself in Yixing’s mouth and the soft electronica playing, and after what seemed like forever Yixing pulled away to breathe. “You’re so fucking hot.”

Jongdae just laughed at him, feeling loose and elated. Yixing squirmed a little bit to pull his underwear back on, and Jongdae moved off of him, standing and looking around for his jeans. He put them back on as Yixing turned off the music, and as he was putting his shoes on he noticed Yixing make a face when looking at his mp3 player.

“It’s fucking two-twenty? Holy shit, how long have we been in here?” He laughed. “We’ve been closed for twenty minutes. Goddamn.”

Jongdae frowned at him. “Are you serious? Shit, I have a lot to do.”

“Yeah, it’s late. Hah!” Yixing shook his head at himself and reached down to pick his pants off the floor. He struggled to put them on, and Jongdae silently enjoyed watching it. He put his mp3 player into his pocket, and then sighed heavily as he looked at Jongdae. “Give me your number so I can dick you down tomorrow.”

Jongdae laughed out loud. “Do you have your phone?”

“No, if you just tell me I’ll remember it.”

Jongdae doubted that for some reason but he told Yixing his phone number anyway, and Yixing nodded when he was done. “Alright. I’ll text you. I gotta go find a cab.”

“Alright. Uhm, wait,” Jongdae stopped him right as Yixing had unlocked the door and was about to leave, and Yixing glanced back at him.

“What’s up?”

“Who fucking paid you to give me a lap dance?” Jongdae laughed, and Yixing smirked at him.

“Nobody paid me, I just wanted to do it.” Yixing winked at him and slipped away before Jongdae could stop him, leaving Jongdae alone in the little room. Jongdae stared at the door for a moment, his mouth open, and then he cursed out loud at how sneaky Yixing was. Damnit! Jongdae should’ve seen that coming. For some reason Yixing was interested in him out of nowhere, and it was really strange.

He didn’t dislike it, though. And he was excited for Yixing to text him so they could get down to business. He swallowed before tidying up the room and then leaving to go get his cleaning supplies. He was tired and warm but still had a lot of work to do to close the building, especially since he was running late. But he thought it was worth it.

 

 


	6. jongdae tries to figure out the next time he'll get laid

Yixing didn’t call or text Jongdae all throughout the day on Tuesday, and Jongdae felt a little childish for looking forward to a text so much. He got to work on time and looked around for Yixing, just to ask him how his day was and maybe smoothly segway into getting his phone number, but it took an hour for him to remember that Yixing didn’t come to work on Tuesdays. That was annoying, but he would live, and maybe wait for a text to help him through the night. The text never came.

On Wednesday there was still no contact and Jongdae was a little confused. When Jongdae got to work he saw Yixing running around on the floor like he usually was, and Jongdae was immediately contented by his presence. He thought it was a little strange how their encounter in the private room had made it so he was unable to think about anything else, but he figured he was a young adult and prone to infatuation. It would probably go away after a while.

He smiled at Yixing when he walked by him to get backstage, and Yixing didn’t notice. Jongdae went directly to Tao’s empty station and dropped off his bag, then went around to greet everyone he could as he usually did when he arrived at work. When he was pretty sure he had gotten everyone who was backstage he returned to Tao’s station, and was happy to see Hakyeon there. “Yaah, Hakyeon.”

“Baby, hi.” Hakyeon smiled and got up to hug him, and Jongdae laughed when he pulled away.

“Hi, hi. How was your day?”

“It was fine. I mostly just looked at clothes online and...didn’t buy anything. Bought a few things. Bought more things than I should’ve.” Hakyeon sighed as he plopped back down in his chair, and Jongdae grinned at him.

“Show me.”

“Wow, the internet is so bad backstage,” Hakyeon said as he opened his phone to bring up a website. Jongdae grinned and watched him for a moment, and then looked up, glancing at himself in Tao’s mirror for a moment. He looked fine. Hakyeon found what he was looking for on his phone and got up to show Jongdae a couple jackets he had purchased, and while Jongdae was cooing at Hakyeon’s fashion sense Jongin entered the room from the back hallway.

“Ahh, hi, Jongin,” Jongdae glanced up at him, and Jongin smiled, taking off his shirt once he got to his station.

“Hi.”

“I like how you get right to work,” Hakyeon told him, and Jongin let out a breathless laugh.

“Uhh, thanks.”

“Hakyeonnie,” Jongdae groaned a bit, lifting a hand to rub at the side of his face. “Something annoyed me yesterday.”

“What’s that, babe?” Hakyeon went back over to his chair but Jongdae knew he was still engaged in the conversation. He liked how safe Hakyeon made him feel, like he could tell him anything and Hakyeon would be able to give him some sound advice. Like a strip club mom. It was a good thing to have.

“I gave Yixing my number but he never texted me.” Jongdae cleared his throat. “I’m trying to collect numbers from work, I dunno. ‘Cause I only have you and...and Kris right now. I want to make more friends.” This sounded like a good enough excuse to him. He didn’t want to tell Hakyeon that he was possibly garnering some feelings for Yixing, because he didn’t know how Hakyeon would react. He glanced over at Hakyeon and saw the blank stare he was giving him, and laughed a little. “What?”

Before Hakyeon could respond, Jongdae felt Jongin standing at his side, and he turned around to look at him. Jongin was holding out his phone to him, a quiet look on his face, and when Jongdae took his phone he saw the new contact screen was up. He laughed out loud shortly. “Jongin.”

“If you put your number in I’ll text you. And then we can have each other,” Jongin explained, and Jongdae laughed again, starting to type in his information.

“Thank you Jongin, that’s really nice.”

“Of course.” Jongin tapped his bare feet against the floor slightly, and Jongdae noticed the movement from out of the corner of his eye. When he was done he handed the phone back to Jongin, and Jongin smiled.

“Do you think Yixing’ll be a good texter? He and I don’t really text each other,” Hakyeon said, trying to continue the conversation from before, and Jongdae bit the inside of his cheek.

“Maybe. I don’t know. He’s not very good yet.” Jongdae sighed. “Why wouldn’t he text me? I dunno. I get so obsessive over these things.”

“Honestly, what I think is that Yixing’s just really fuckin’ dumb and can only focus on one thing at a time. He probably got distracted and then forgot.” Hakyeon laughed a little, kicking his feet up to rest on Minseok’s empty chair. Jongdae smiled softly.

“You’re probably right.”

“So don’t worry about it. He’ll text you when he remembers. Or maybe you should just remind him when you see him tonight, I’m sure he won’t think you’re weird.” Jongdae looked over to Hakyeon and saw him with his cheeks puffed up, looking in his direction, and Jongdae snorted.

“Okay. I can try that.” Jongdae still felt kind of dumb. Damnit, he should’ve gotten Yixing to text him right when Jongdae gave him his number. Then this probably wouldn't be happening. His phone went off, and his heart skipped a beat for a moment before he saw it was a text from Jongin. He felt bad when he realized how disappointed he was, he shouldn’t have had that reaction to a text from his friend. He coughed and sat up in his chair. “Thanks, Jongin.”

“No problem,” Jongin said, lounging in his chair with his feet up on his desk, and Jongdae went to dig his computer out of his bag. He felt ready to start on tonight’s homework, since the night was young and there wasn’t anything to clean yet. He listened to people coming in and out of the backstage area with disinterested ears, trying to focus on his work. Something about tonight felt off to him.

When a new voice entered the room, it took Jongdae a minute or two to realize it was Yixing’s. He turned around in his chair to look at him, watching him hold a one-sided conversation with a Hakyeon who seemed more involved with putting on his makeup, and swallowed. Yixing always seemed to be shirtless whenever Jongdae saw him and Jongdae was totally fine with that.

“Yixing,” Jongin spoke up, and Yixing glanced over at him, looking a bit confused. Jongdae wondered if Jongin had ever spoken to Yixing before, he couldn’t remember Jongin being very social with a lot of the people who worked here.

“What’s up?”

“Why didn’t you text Jongdae? You should’ve texted him,” Jongin said, and Jongdae felt his face go through several shades of red before completely paling. Yixing glanced over at Jongdae with a little smirk, and Jongdae looked at Jongin to catch the tail-end of a shit-eating grin before Jongin reverted his face back to normal.

“Jongin, why would you--” Jongdae started to scold him, but was distracted when Yixing came around towards his chair.

“I forgot the number you gave me,” Yixing said, and Jongdae groaned. That was such an Yixing thing to do that he couldn’t even be mad about it.

“You should’ve written it down. It was a lot of numbers. I should’ve known you’d forget it.”

“Sorry, by the time I realized I had forgotten it you were gone.” Yixing reached out for the phone Jongdae had left on Tao’s desk and picked it up. “This is yours?”

“Yeah,” Jongdae said, watching Yixing fuss with his passcode and taking his phone back to unlock it. When he was done he handed it back to Yixing, and watched him press his fingers about, assuming he was opening a new contact screen.

“How’s your day been?” Yixing asked as his fingers moved across Jongdae’s phone screen, and Jongdae blinked.

“It’s been fine, nothing special. How’s yours?”

“Really busy. I hate it when I get to work and I have to start doing shit right away.” Yixing scowled a bit and handed the phone to Jongdae. “Is that okay?”

Jongdae looked to see Yixing’s new contact page, and smiled a bit. “Yeah, that’s all I wanted.”

“Text me or call me or whatever so I have your number.” Yixing clicked his teeth at him and turned on his heel to leave, and before Jongdae could come up with some excuse to keep him there and talk, Yixing was gone back onto the floor. Jongdae swallowed and stared at the curtain for a moment before turning back to his computer. Whatever. That was kind of weird.

He pressed a button to call Yixing’s number, and let it ring three times before hanging up. There. He was hoping Yixing didn’t think their interaction just now was strange, and he was a little afraid that now Yixing thought he had a crush on him. Jongdae was pretty sure he didn’t have a crush on him. Just...wanted to be his friend and stare at his chest for a while. That was it.

Jongdae managed to finish all of his readings for Jazz History by the end of the hour, and was pleased that he hadn’t been called to clean something yet. Tonight seemed to be pretty slow. He could hear more people walking around backstage, talking amongst themselves and struggling into and out of their outfits, and Jongdae sighed at how incredibly normal it was.

About a half an hour later his brain felt numb from staring at his Computer Science homework and he was very happy to be perked up by the sound of drunk yelling. He turned to look at the curtain and saw Junmyeon standing there, a little pink in the face, with Kris standing behind him with a careful hand on his shoulder. Jongdae thought it was entertaining to look at, since his boss towered over mostly everyone he stood next to and Junmyeon was so short.

“Look what I found trying to sneak back here,” Kris intoned, letting go of Junmyeon’s shoulder, and Junmyeon grinned and hopped over to Jongin’s station. Kris glanced over at Jongdae, and Jongdae tried to look away. He didn’t really know his boss but he was intimidated by him anyway, probably just because he was really tall and had thick eyebrows. Something about his appearance made Jongdae feel uneasy. He couldn’t actually remember having conversations outside of work with him.

“Jongin,” Junmyeon sang, sounding a little more drunk than usual, and Jongdae decided he was more interested in this than in whatever conversation Kris had just started with Hakyeon. He looked over at them and saw Junmyeon plop himself down in Jongin’s lap, and enjoyed the big smile Jongin gave to him. Junmyeon was dressed as professionally as he always was, with his hair coiffed so precisely that it made Jongdae wonder how long it took him to do that, and it was a funny sight compared to Jongin’s shirtlessness. Neither of them seemed to mind.

“Hi, I didn’t know you were coming tonight,” Jongin said, and Junmyeon leaned down to kiss his cheek swiftly. Jongin made a little sound and smiled again, and Jongdae thought it was precious. Maybe it was weird he was watching them be cute together. Whatever, he was bored.

“Of course I came. I wanna see you. You work so hard,” Junmyeon kissed his cheek again, and Jongin flailed a bit. Jongdae mused that they had probably been seeing each other for what, four or five days, and that this kind of affection was entertaining. He didn’t know what either of them were like in a relationship, though, and Junmyeon seemed pretty drunk. Maybe this wasn’t that out of the ordinary.

“You look nice,” Jongin told him, and Junmyeon folded his hands in his lap.

“Thank you, thank you. Do you want me to get you something? Can I get you a drink?”

“Ahh, I’m fine for now.” Jongin cleared his throat. “Be careful tonight.”

“Hah? Why?”

“You’ve been drinking already, right? Try to slow down.”

“I know, I know. I won’t drink anything more for a while. Mm,” he leaned over to kiss Jongin’s forehead, and Jongin closed his eyes. “Looking out for me. That’s cute.”

Jongin laughed. “I just don’t want you to get sick.”

“I can hold my liquor okay.”  
  
“If you can’t then Jongdae has to clean it up, and I don’t want him to have to do that.” Jongdae wanted to pipe up and enter the conversation, but realized that would make it apparent that he had been eavesdropping. Best to just leave it alone.

Junmyeon chuckled a bit under his breath. “I proooomise, I won’t be sick.”

“Okay. Drink water.”

“Alright, baby.” Junmyeon swung one of his legs around so he could be facing Jongin, straddling him in his chair and moving his hands to rest on his shoulders. “Mm, you’re so damn sexy. You drive me crazy with just your pretty face.” Junmyeon kissed him on the lips and Jongin responded eagerly, which surprised Jongdae a bit. He hadn’t expected Jongin to be down with public displays of affection, but he learned something new every day. Jongin probably wasn’t aware that Jongdae was creeping on them anyway. When they started to make out Jongdae felt a little ruffled and looked away. That wasn’t anything he needed to witness.

He tried to refocus on his Computer Science work, since he was painfully uninterested in whatever strip club politics Hakyeon and Kris were discussing, and maybe ten minutes of staring blankly at his homework later he felt fingers dancing across his shoulder. He glanced to his right and saw Jongin smirking at him from his chair, and then to his left to see Junmyeon bouncing over to Hakyeon and Kris. Jongdae snorted quietly at how bubbly and touchy he was.

“Hakyeon, Hakyeon,” Junmyeon interrupted Kris in the middle of a sentence, and Kris just stared at him with a vaguely amused look on his face. Hakyeon looked up at Junmyeon, his eyes looking a little shaky.

“Hi, Junmyeon, I haven’t seen you around in a while.”

“Yeah, I haven’t been coming much this week. Hakyeon, you did your makeup, right?” Junymeon’s legs were wobbly, like he was antsy to sit down in Hakyeon’s lap but was restraining himself. Jongdae thought it was kind of cute.

“Yeah, I do it myself.”

“Ahh, you’re so good at it. It looks so good. You look so handsome, Hakyeon, ahh.” Junmyeon was rambling but didn’t seem to notice. He reached out a hand to touch Hakyeon’s hair and Jongdae saw Hakyeon flinch for a moment before calming down. Jongdae thought that his disposition had changed a bit since Junmyeon had come over to him, but wasn’t really sure about that since he hadn’t been watching Hakyeon for a while. Maybe Kris had upset him. Junmyeon moved his hand away from Hakyeon’s hair and Hakyeon sighed, avoiding his eyes.

“Thanks, Junmyeon.”

“Everyone here does their own makeup,” Kris mumbled, trying to join in the conversation, but Junmyeon was entirely focused on Hakyeon.

“You’re good at it. You told me that you’ve been doing it for a while.”

“Yeah, I have.”

“Ahh, your eyes are so pretty already, but you can make them look even prettier.” Junmyeon looked as if he wanted to reach out and touch Hakyeon’s face but was thinking better of it. Jongdae was grateful for that. He glanced over at Jongin, just to survey his reaction, and wasn’t surprised to see him gazing in their direction, looking somewhat unsettled. Jongdae didn’t know what to make of that. Surely if Junmyeon knew he was making Jongin uncomfortable he would...stop. Jongdae glanced back over to them to see if Junmyeon had noticed the crestfallen look on Jongin’s face, but he was still staring at Hakyeon.

“Thank you. You’re really sweet.” Hakyeon said stiffly, and Jongdae wasn’t used to hearing such lifeless responses from him. Jongdae cleared his throat like he was about to speak up, but Hakyeon waved a hand in Junmyeon’s direction. “Shouldn’t you go sit with your boyfriend?” He asked, and then cocked his head to the side. “Is he your boyfriend? Is that what I should call Jongin?”

“Ahh,” Junmyeon smiled, his cheeks rising. “I don’t really know.” He seemed mesmerized by the way Hakyeon had moved his head, and Jongdae thought he could see cartoon hearts in his eyes. Hakyeon pursed his lips like he wanted to chew Junmyeon out but wasn’t going to.

“Isn’t that something you should know?”

“We haven’t really discussed that yet, we’ve only been seeing each other for like a week,” Junmyeon said, and Jongdae could tell he was keeping his voice quiet so Jongin wouldn’t pick it up on the other side of the room. Jongdae sighed and then laughed shortly when he saw Kris stand up and pick Junmyeon up by the back of his shirt collar.

“You’ve been back here for a while, maybe you should go. We don’t really like people wandering around back here.”

“Mmm, okay, okay,” Junmyeon said, breaking free of his grip and wobbling away from him. Kris stepped towards him and Junmyeon stepped back. “I’ll go, I understand.” He twirled around on his feet and went back over to Jongin, hopping on his feet and grinning at him. “I’ll see you later tonight?”

“Okay, yeah.” Jongin smiled at him and Jongdae considered that he looked normal. Maybe he wasn’t as upset as Jongdae had thought. Junmyeon kissed him once more and Jongin reached up to pat his face, making him grin.

“I’ll see you.”

“Come on,” Kris sounded impatient, and he reached over again to grab Junmyeon by his shoulder. Junmyeon yelped and flopped towards the curtain, Kris’ hand still on him.

“Sorry, sorry, bye. Bye, Jongdae!” He called out as he left through the curtain, and Jongdae laughed low in his throat at the random shoutout. Drunk people amused him to no end.

Kris sighed and looked over at Jongdae. “He’s weird,” he said in a low voice.

Jongdae grinned at him. “He is.”

That seemed to be all Kris wanted to get out of Jongdae today, because he went back over to Hakyeon and sat down in Minseok’s chair again, looking at him. Hakyeon looked massively uncomfortable and Jongdae wanted to go over and hug him. “Tell me about your new place,” Kris said to him.

Hakyeon sighed and glanced over at him. “It’s nice, I like it. Closer to the city than my last apartment was. The rent is higher of course but I can manage it. My cat’s gotten used to it already.”

“You've only been there like, a month, right?” Kris asked.

“Mhm. It feels like home already.” Jongdae remembered last month when Hakyeon was moving, and hadn’t really heard a lot about the follow-up since then, other than his cat was a terror the first week there. Jongdae had yet to meet Hakyeon’s cat but he had heard that it had quite a personality.

Kris sat back in Minseok’s chair and blinked. “That’s good.”

“Thanks,” Hakyeon mumbled at him, and Kris smiled slowly.

“You’re welcome.” Jongdae thought that maybe they weren’t talking about Hakyeon’s apartment anymore. Kris cleared his throat. “We’re going to need to clear a space back here for a new guy, he’ll be coming in next week.”

“Ahh, really? Isn’t there a place by Jongin’s desk?” Hakyeon looked in that direction and Jongin glanced up from his phone when he heard his name.

“What?”

“Is that space next to you occupied?”

Jongin glanced at the desk next to his and blinked, reaching his leg over and kicking it aimlessly. “No, I don’t ever see anyone here except for Jongdae.”

“I like Tao’s spot more,” Jongdae excused himself, and Kris laughed shortly.

“I guess I can put him there then. It’ll be more trouble finding someone who wants to share a dressing room with him.”

“What’s he like?” Hakyeon asked.

“He’s cute, and he’s pretty tall.”

Hakyeon scoffed. “No, I mean, what’s his name, where’s he from. I know he’s good-looking, Kris, he’s going to be working here.”

Kris made a squawky sound that Jongdae thought was a little weird to hear from him, and it actually made him laugh out loud. Kris didn’t seem to notice the laugh was in his direction. “His name’s Sehun, he’s from the city. He’s young.”

“How young?” Hakyeon said flatly.

“Uhh.”

“If we have another eighteen year old wandering around I’m gonna pack him lunches. Sometimes I feel like I work at a high school.”

“He’s eighteen,” Kris adjusted his spot in his chair, and Jongin laughed shortly, still looking at his phone.

“Damnit, Kris.” Hakyeon cursed.

“The younger guys make money, leave me alone. He’s interested and talented and good-looking. And he really wants to work here. How am I supposed to turn that down?” Kris stared pointedly at Hakyeon, and Hakyeon stared back at him.

“Ahh, I can’t be mad at you for making legal money.”

“Thanks.”

Jongdae got up from Tao’s desk, feeling fidgety all of a sudden. He had been backstage for like two hours or so, and considered that maybe there was something he could do out on the floor to get the jitters out. He smiled at Hakyeon and Kris shortly. “I’m gonna go find something to clean.”

“Ahh, you work well, Jongdae.” Kris told him, and Jongdae laughed, going over to his closet to pull out his mop bucket.

“Yeah, I sure do love cleaning things.” Jongdae smiled at him, intending to look sincere, but apparently the face was tight because Hakyeon snorted at him. Jongdae pouted and Hakyeon waved a hand at him.

“Go have fun.”

“I’m already having fun.” Jongdae took his bucket out through the curtain and looked around. There wasn’t anything in his immediate sight that looked like it needed to be cleaned, and he sighed. Sometimes he craved work just to give him something to do.

He went over to the hallway that led to the bathrooms and started to mop the floor, just because why not. Mopping was relaxing sometimes. He cleaned the floor and was upset with himself that he had forgotten to bring a wet floor sign, but whatever, he didn’t think anyone would wipe out here. If they did then they were just drunk and who cares. He chuckled to himself at his indifference and rolled his mop over to the bar, looking around for Chanyeol to entertain him.

He saw Chanyeol standing behind the bar talking to Yixing, who was sitting on one of the barstools, and when Jongdae came up Yixing’s eyes went wide and he motioned at him. “Jongdae, Jongdae! C’mere.” He said, and Jongdae laughed a little at how excited he was all of a sudden. Chanyeol glanced over at him and smiled in greeting, and before Jongdae could say something to him Yixing had grabbed his arm and was pulling him away.

“Hey, come here.” Jongdae yelped when Yixing pulled him along and eventually stopped at one of the empty tables near the stage. Yixing plopped down in a chair and looked up at Jongdae, who cleared his throat and sat down, rolling his mop bucket a bit away so it wouldn’t sit there like an awkward decoration.

“What’s up? I thought you were working, not fucking around at the bar.”

“I’m not drunk, I was just talking to Chanyeol. I got your number and put it in my phone. I like your shirt.”

Jongdae furrowed his brow at Yixing, a little confused at these strange things he was saying all at once. Every time he spoke to Yixing Jongdae felt like something weird was going on. He probably just wasn’t used to Yixing’s bizarre little brain. “Ahh, thanks. I like this shirt a lot too.”

“Are you mad at me?” Yixing asked, his hands fidgeting a bit, and Jongdae blinked at him.

“Of course not. Why would you think that?”

“I dunno, you seemed kind of upset about the phone thing earlier.”

Jongdae groaned out loud. “I wasn’t upset, sorry. I’m just kind of impatient.”

“That’s fine.”

“I guess I was just looking forward to hanging out with you sometime but we didn’t get to talk about that since I didn’t have your number, ahh.” Jongdae said, feeling his back go a little stiff. He remembered how when he and Yixing had spent time in the private room together, he had brought up seeing Yixing again. For round two. _Jongdae you’re being a slut just calm down._

Yixing smiled and leaned his elbows on the table, holding his head up with his hands. Jongdae thought he looked kind of childlike and cute, but the way his muscles flexed a bit when he moved his arms was the opposite. “Ahhh, yeah, we should definitely hang out.”

“Are you working a lot this weekend?” Jongdae asked, figuring he could get time off of work if he actually had a reason for it. He didn’t take a lot of time off of work in the first place.

“Uhm...” Yixing thought about it for a moment, and then sat back in his chair, sighing. He looked down at the floor and Jongdae didn’t take this as a good sign. “I actually need to clear something up first.”

“What’s that?”

“I think I might have a girlfriend but I’m not fucking sure.” Yixing looked up at Jongdae with a sheepish expression and Jongdae couldn’t help but laugh. “We’ve been seeing each other on and off for a couple of weeks. I don’t know what we are. But I want to make sure we’re not anything special before I promise you anything.” Yixing bit his lip and Jongdae hated how it made him feel warm for a split second before he absorbed this information. This wasn’t really...great. This wasn’t what Jongdae wanted, at least.

“I’ve been meaning to clear shit up with her for a while but it’s really hard to hang out with her,” Yixing continued, scratching the side of his face. “She works for NBC and is really busy all the time, and this is something I don’t really want to talk about over the phone, y’know.”

“Yeah, I get that.” Jongdae sighed, and Yixing scooted his chair a little bit closer to him.

“Are you upset with me now?” Yixing asked, putting both hands on either side of his chair and giving Jongdae an easy smile. He looked so relaxed and normal that it made Jongdae feel a bit better. He liked how Yixing had been opening up to him more recently.

“No, of course not. I’m glad that you’re taking consideration for whoever’s feelings.”

“Hah. I try not to be a douche.”

“I know.” Jongdae lifted a hand to rub his temple and then smiled at Yixing. It was frustrating, but there wasn’t anything he could do. “I’m just glad to have your number now.”

“Ahh, that’s a really cute thing to say. Jongdae, you’re cute.” Yixing smiled a little awkwardly and Jongdae smiled back at the dimple that appeared. “I promise I’ll know what’s up with me by next week, okay?”

“Yeah, that’s cool. No rush.” Jongdae tried to ease a smile. “We can still hang out and like, not make out, y’know.”

“But what if I want to make out with you?” Yixing said quickly, and then smirked. “Of course we can. I want to be friends too.”

Jongdae swallowed. He hadn’t been actively pursued by anyone since...freshman year of college, which was like two years ago. It was a strange feeling, especially since it was coming from someone as good-looking as Yixing. Usually it was awkward teenagers with weaknesses for guys who played the piano. Never a hot stripper. “Yeah,” Jongdae said dumbly, and Yixing laughed.

“I’ll try to make it work in your favor,” Yixing said. Jongdae shook his hand at him.

“Don’t break any hearts.”

“I won’t, I think I’m good at avoiding that.” Yixing bit his lip again and Jongdae fought back the urge to jump across the table and kiss him. That would probably not be welcome, but...ehh, he didn’t know at this point.

“Yeah,” Jongdae repeated, because sometimes talking to Yixing made his brain go blank. Yixing smiled and lifted a hand to thread his fingers in Jongdae’s hair, and Jongdae didn’t flinch, instead looking down at the table and trying to casually move his fingers in a circle on the wood. “We could go see a movie or something.”

“That sounds good. Haven’t seen anything in theaters in a while.” Yixing rose to his feet and cleared his throat, moving his hand out of Jongdae’s hair, and Jongdae looked up at him. “You reminded me that I should be working. Is that alright? We’ll talk later, I’ll be fucking around backstage eventually, hopefully, god.”

“Okay.” Jongdae smiled at him, the expression coming easier this time, and Yixing returned it before heading back towards the curtain and disappearing. Jongdae sighed to himself and stared at his mop bucket. His love life always proved a lot more aggravating than it should be, but he figured everyone’s was like that. He was twenty-one years old, it was supposed to be annoying.

He gathered his bucket and started to hobble off towards the side of the club he had yet to inspect, picking up loose napkins and empty soda cans on the way and stopping by the waste bins to dispose of them. He rolled his bucket across the floor and over to the tables again, and was caught off-guard when he heard someone calling his name.

“Jongdae, Jongdae!” He turned around at the voice and was immediately jumped on by someone with a lot more energy than him. He couldn’t help but laugh and teeter backwards a bit, settling himself and smirking at Junmyeon, who seemed very excited to see him. “Jongdae!”

“Hey, what’s up? Are you alright?” Jongdae noted that he was wearing a heavier outer jacket over the one he had been wearing when he came backstage, and Junmyeon nodded quickly.

“Yeah, I’m leaving. Don’t really wanna hang around tonight, I have homework to do.”

“You...have homework?” Jongdae asked, a little amused by this, and Junmyeon nodded vigorously again.

“Yeah, I’m in grad school. Jongdae! Jongdae, wait, I’m so happy.” Jongdae didn’t know why Junmyeon was telling him to wait if he was just going to keep talking, but assumed it was just drunk rambling. He greatly enjoyed the enthusiasm with which Junmyeon drunk rambled at him. “I like Jongin so much. I like him so much, Jongdae.”

Jongdae laughed. “I’m really glad you guys have gotten together, you’re really cute with him.”

“Yaaah, he’s so fucking cute. He’s so sweet, Jongdae, he loves his dogs so much, I really like him.” Suddenly Junmyeon was on him again, taking Jongdae into a really tight hug, and Jongdae laughed out loud, hugging him back. “He’s the best.”

“He’s really great, I do like Jongin a lot. He’s a fun guy.” Always surprising him. “Kind of unpredictable.”

“Yeah, yeah, Jongdae, thank you.” Junmyeon’s head bonked against Jongdae’s quickly but it didn’t hurt. “You interfered and it helped-- it helped a lot. I don’t think I would’ve been able to ask him out if it weren’t for you.”

“Ahh, it was fun playing matchmaker.” Jongdae grinned and pulled back a bit, but Junmyeon was on him with another hug and Jongdae laughed again. “And it’s nice to see you guys together after it, too, I feel like I did something nice.”

“You did. Mm.” Junmyeon nuzzled his head against Jongdae’s for a moment and then pulled away suddenly, the movement apparently surprising him according to how hard he wobbled on his feet afterwards. He gave Jongdae a smile that Jongdae could only describe as geeky. “I have to go, yeah, I called a cab.”

“Okay, cool. Have a good night,” Jongdae waved at him and Junmyeon waved back, beaming.

“Thank you! Wuh, Jongdae,” he was mumbling to himself as he left, and once Jongdae saw Junmyeon was out of the building he burst out laughing, holding onto his mop to keep him on his feet. What the fuck was that? Drunk people were the best. He walked around the club, looking for a spill to clean up that wasn’t there, and when he made sure everything was clean he wandered backstage to sit back down.

Jongdae put the bucket back into his closet and went over to sit down in Tao’s chair. Hakyeon wasn’t there, probably gone off to actually get some work done, but Jongin was still sitting there on his phone. Jongdae glanced over at him. “Is Tao coming in to work tonight?”

“I think he has off tonight,” Jongin told him, raising his eyes to look at Jongdae for a moment, and Jongdae smiled at him.  
  
“Awesome.” Jongdae ran his fingers across his laptop’s trackpad to get the screen to light up, and then looked back to Jongin. “Hey, you like your boyfriend a lot, don’t you?”

Jongin smiled, looking back at his phone. “Yeah, I do.”

“You called him your boyfriend, it’s real.” Jongdae grinned at him, and then Jongin looked up with wide eyes.

“Oh, I mean. We haven’t talked about that yet. I don’t know if he’s my boyfriend.”

“But you want him to be?”

“Y...yeah.” Jongin said, looking a little confused, but the expression melted into a smile. “Yeah.”

“That’s so cute.” Jongdae wiggled in his chair, excited. He felt like a very accomplished matchmaker. Hopefully he could bring that luck into his own love life. He logged onto his laptop and brought his homework back up, not feeling daunted by it. He had high hopes for this coming week.

 

 


	7. jongdae watches madness unfold and then kisses a guy

About a week later Jongin was late to work, and so Jongdae was sitting at his spot since Tao had bothered to show up today. He had already cleaned up a couple tables out on the floor that had become sticky from spilled alcohol, and Jongdae wasn’t too enthused about his job because of it. He told himself at least it wasn’t puke, and pressed play on the new Fall Out Boy album that he had put on his Spotify since Tao told him to listen to it.

He managed to get a few songs in and complete a few levels on the puzzle game he was playing online until he noticed a commotion happening over his headphones and pulled one out to see what was going on. Jongin had walked in from the curtain, and Jongdae let out a little sound, since he had been wondering where Jongin had been. He knew Jongin was scheduled to work tonight, but it was almost an hour and a half since they opened and Jongin wasn’t there.

Right after he noticed Jongin’s overall presence he noticed the limp in his step as he walked over to his station, giving Jongdae a small smile. Jongdae grunted and stood up, standing up and turning to gather his things from Jongin’s desk, and he was about to say something before Hakyeon cut him off.

“Hey, Jongin, you’re really late. You’re lucky Kris hasn’t really been back here--” he stopped when he noticed Jongin limping, and made a coughing sound. Minseok stared from his station and frowned.

“Jongin, are you okay?” Minseok asked.

“I’m fine,” Jongin said quietly, the side of his mouth quirking up in a little smile. Jongdae pursed his lips and attempted to speak again, but Hakyeon cut him off once more.

“You’re limping. What happened to you? Tell me you slept on your leg funny.”

Jongin looked tired and distressed for a moment before dropping his shoulders, hovering over his chair and staring at himself in his mirror. “It’s not serious, it’s kind of embarrassing.”

“I’m worried, don’t worry me.” Hakyeon said sternly, and Jongin shot Hakyeon an amused smile.

“I had sex last night. Uhm, for the first time. So I’m kind of. My body’s kind of sore.”

Jongdae laughed airily at this confession, because _been there done that_ , but Hakyeon didn’t seem pleased by the answer. “With who? A centaur? You’re not supposed to be limping after that, Jongin. Not if the guy you’re doing it with knows what he’s doing.”

“Uhm, I think it was okay. I had a lot of fun,” Jongin said, a little blush rising to his face, and he moved to sit down in his chair, winced as soon as his backside touched the seat, and then stood back up again, messing with the cuffs of his jacket. Jongdae glanced over to see Hakyeon frowning at him.

“I don’t like that you’re still in pain. That’s not normal.”

“We were doing it for like, hours,” Jongin said flatly, staring ahead as he took his jacket off and draped it over the back of his chair. Jongdae was vaguely jealous - he had never had sex for _hours_ before, that seemed like something you only read about on the internet - but his train of thought derailed when he saw the dark purple splotches around Jongin’s neck.

“Ahh, Jongin, you look bruised,” Jongdae said, and then added a laugh to show that he wasn’t judging him. “You should cover those up before you go on stage.”

“Should I?” Jongin said, lifting a hand to touch his neck, and Hakyeon cleared his throat.

“Jongin, turn around.” He urged, and Jongin did what was asked of him. Hakyeon groaned when he saw the marks, and Minseok, sitting closely behind Hakyeon, let out a slow whistle.

“Do you know how to cover this up, Hakyeon? Like with makeup?” Jongin asked him.

“Yeah, of course, baby. Come over here.” Hakyeon pulled an empty chair closer to his vanity and started rummaging around his desk for makeup, and the movement caught Tao’s attention. He pulled out his headphones and looked to Jongin limping over to their side of the room, and laughed.

“What happened to you? Did you get attacked?”

“I had rough sex,” Jongin responded plainly, already seeming like he wasn’t interested in talking about it anymore, but Tao just let out an even louder laugh.

“Really? And you’re crippled now?” Jongin sat down in the chair and made a face like it pained him, and Tao leaned over to study the bruises on Jongin’s neck. “Damn, he put some effort into these.”

“Hakyeon, do I have to be sitting for this?” Jongin asked him, his eyes looking tired, and Hakyeon grabbed a small tube of green makeup from one of his drawers.  
  
“Yeah, babe, it won’t take long. Why do I have green corrector? God.” He thought for a moment and then laughed. “Oh, I know why I have this. Oh god.” He grabbed the tube and a brush, and started to apply the makeup to the bristles. He glanced over at Jongin. “Can you take your shirt off so I don’t get makeup on it?”

“Oh.” Jongin said quietly. “I think I have some hickies lower down too.”

“That’s fine, I can cover them up.” Jongin took his shirt off over his head and threw it at his chair, and Jongdae was there to catch it and put it at Jongin’s space when his aim wasn’t enough. The purple splotches on his neck spread lower down to his collarbones, and there was a pool of purple and red on either side of his chest. Hakyeon stared hard at it with one eyebrow raised, looking scandalized. “Did he bring brass knuckles to the fight?”

Jongin snorted, his face going a bit red again. Minseok furrowed his brow looking at the bruises as Hakyeon started putting makeup on the marks on Jongin’s neck.

“Jongin, that looks really bad,” Minseok said.

“It doesn’t hurt at all, just feels kinda tender. It never hurt.” Jongin sighed, and Jongdae came over to get a better look at what everyone was fussing about. The marks were kind of scary, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed with makeup. Jongdae remembered getting hickeys a while ago, but he didn’t have the thought to cover them with anything other than a jacket and a prayer that nobody would notice.

Jongin made another face as Hakyeon pressed the brush harder onto his skin, and Hakyeon frowned up at him. “Minseok, do you have Tylenol or whatever?”

“Yeah, I have something,” Minseok started to rummage through his belongings on his desk, and Jongin groaned.

“I don’t have to take anything, really, I’m fine.”

“You’re limping around and you’re making faces at me. Jongin!” Hakyeon stopped applying makeup and looked Jongin in his face. “You shouldn’t have come into work today. If you had just called in and told Kris you weren’t feeling well I’m sure he would’ve given you the day off.”

“Ahh, Hakyeon, it’s not that serious.”

“Do you think you can dance like this? You can’t even sit in this chair without pulling a face.” Hakyeon frowned at him and Minseok wordlessly handed him two pills. Hakyeon took them and then handed them off to Jongin. “Maybe these will help, please take them.”

“Okay, thank you.” Jongin took them in his hand and Jongdae scrambled to get him something to drink. When he returned with a half-full water bottle Jongin had already thrown the pills back, but took the water from Jongdae gratefully, taking a sip from it. “Thank you, Jongdae,” he said when he swallowed, and Jongdae nodded.

The curtains moved and Chanyeol entered through them, looking sort of lost, but he broke into a big grin when he saw the group of people in Hakyeon’s corner. “Hey, guys.” He noticed Jongin’s bruises right away and frowned. “Jongin, are you alright?”

“He just had great sex,” Hakyeon explained, and Jongin laughed shortly.

“Oh, well, that’s good. Good for you.” Chanyeol replied.

“Chanyeol, do you need me to clean something up?” Jongdae asked, since that’s usually what Chanyeol came backstage looking for, and Chanyeol smiled at him.

“No, it’s all fine. I don’t feel great, kinda nauseous, and smelling all the alcohol wasn’t helping.” He found an empty chair near Tao’s station and pulled it closer to where Hakyeon and Jongin were. “I’ll go back in a moment, I just wanna relax.”

“Mm, dear, do you want anything?” Minseok asked in his direction, his eyes looking wide, and Chanyeol gave him a huge smile.

“No thanks, I think I’ll be fine if I just sit for a while.”

Hakyeon started poking at a dark purple spot above Jongin’s collarbone with the back of the makeup brush and Jongin whimpered at him. “Hakyeon, quit it.”

“You’re not well. I still think you should go home.”

“How does this happen from sex?” Chanyeol laughed shortly. “I’ve never seen something like that. Looks like a warrior breastplate.”

“It is, it’s a sign of a long battle,” Tao spoke up, and Hakyeon shot him a look.

“I don’t know. It might be because it was my first time. It didn’t hurt when we were having sex, though,” Jongin raised his hand to wipe at his face, which Jongdae had noticed Jongin did sometimes when he was uncomfortable. Jongdae figured Jongin didn’t want to be talking about this in a room full of people. “It felt fine. It felt, good, y’know. Like sex.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that, y’know, if that’s just-- just the kind of sex you like,” Jongdae added, trying to make Jongin feel better about the situation, and Jongin glanced up at him with a blank expression that Jongdae couldn’t quite decipher. Mmh. Maybe Jongdae was taking this personally. He hadn't gotten laid in forever, and whenever he did the sex was never as rough as it was in the porn he liked to watch. _Maybe that's kind of weird for someone your age._ No, he was just kind of kinky. Wasn’t anything wrong with that.

“Was his dick like, a Pringles can?” Tao joked, and Hakyeon looked up at him once more, this time with less malice.

“You’d know.”

“Shut up.”

“No, it was, uhm, normal-sized?” Jongin scratched the back of his neck. “I didn’t think it was really intimidating...”

“You’re fucking Junmyeon, aren’t you? His dick isn’t special,” Tao said, and Jongdae snorted at him, wondering how Tao even knew that. Then he put pieces together and sighed about some of the more expensive purchases Tao had made in the past.

“Wait, you _are_ with Junmyeon, aren’t you?” Chanyeol asked, more good-naturedly than Tao. “He doesn’t look fantastic tonight either.”

“Uhm, yeah.” Jongin cleared his throat. “I guess we’re dating now. Been seeing each other a lot. I like him.” This made Jongdae smile, and also interested him a little bit. He didn't really see Junmyeon as someone into rough sex. But he didn't really see Junmyeon as someone who could keep an erection for more than five minutes either. He figured he had an uneducated viewpoint.

“That’s good, I’m glad you like him, but he should be way more gentle with you.” Hakyeon said. “Especially if it’s your first time. You told him you were a virgin, right?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“And he still did this to you? Wuh.”

“I mean, I didn’t stop him. I liked it.” Jongin sighed. “But he was really apologetic in the morning when he saw me limping around, okay? He feels bad. He knows he hurt me. I don’t think you guys should pick on him.”

Hakyeon slowed the painting he was doing on Jongin’s chest, and then frowned. “Alright. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pick on him or anything. I’m just. Ugh. Worried.”

“I know, and I’m fine.” Jongin watched Hakyeon put the cap back on his green corrector, and then looked down to the patches of green on his chest. “What’s this for? It looks...green.”

“It’s just a bottom coat, it’s supposed to neutralize the color. Since that purple is all fucked up. I’m gonna put this concealer over it now, it’ll blend in with your skin.” He picked up a brown pen-looking stick and uncapped it.

“Okay. Thank you,” Jongin said. “You know what you’re doing.”

Hakyeon smiled a bit, showing his teeth. “I’ve done this before.”

“I’ve watched him,” Jongdae added, and Hakyeon threw him a playful look. Jongdae watched Chanyeol scoot his chair closer to Minseok’s station, and lean in close to say something to him. He smiled a little bit. He figured Minseok and Chanyeol had been dating for, what, a couple of months, but they seemed really sweet on each other already. It was nice.

Sometimes Jongdae felt like he wanted some kind of strip club romance too, but then he thought about it. There wasn’t really anyone here who seemed like boyfriend material. Except for maybe Hakyeon, who was...basically his mom.

He didn’t remember seeing a lot of Yixing tonight, where was he? Jongdae thought he worked a lot harder than some of the other guys here. Jongdae walked over to Jongin’s station and grabbed his chair, bringing it over to where everyone else was so he could sit down.

Right when he got into place, Kris appeared from the back hallway that led from the dressing rooms, and he made a squawky sound when he saw them, so Jongdae looked up. “Hey, Hakyeon, I wanna talk-- Chanyeol, what are you doing back here? Ahh, I don't care.” Kris started and then immediately lost interest. Chanyeol grinned at him and Kris smirked back, and then turned his attention to Jongin. “Yaah, what’s wrong with you?”

“Jongin got some bruises so I’m covering them up before he goes onstage,” Hakyeon explained, moving the stick along the green marks he had made like he was coloring in a coloring book. Kris pursed his lips, looking down at Jongin, and Jongin met his gaze with sad-looking eyes.

“Jongin? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, they don’t hurt badly at all.”

“Are you serious? You look like you were run over by a truck.”

Jongin looked awkward, puffing his cheeks up with air, and Jongdae wanted to intervene but had no idea what to say. “Really, it’s no big deal.”

“What are all these bruises from?”

“They’re from my boyfriend, it’s just my boyfriend.”

This made the crease in Kris’ forehead deepen, and his voice turned more stern. “Jongin, what the hell. If you’re being--”

“Heeey, you asshole, Jongin’s covered in _hickies_ ,” Tao called towards them, an amused look on his face, and Kris glanced over at him, his face blanching. “His boyfriend did that with his fucking mouth. He’s not getting beaten up.”

Kris’ face softened a bit, and he looked somewhat apologetic, his hands clenching and unclenching awkwardly at his sides. “Ahh. Uhm. Okay.” He patted Jongin’s shoulder a bit roughly. “Don’t scare me like that, god!” He forced a laugh. “I thought the worst.”

“You’re dumb as shit. C’mere,” Tao said, stretching out his arm to reach for Kris, and Kris rolled his eyes but went over to Tao anyway. Jongdae always marveled at how Tao got away with speaking that way to their boss, but then he remembered that Tao and Kris had been sleeping together for a while and it wasn’t surprising. Sigh. Everyone was getting laid but him.

At first Jongdae had wanted to talk to Chanyeol, but now Chanyeol was off with Minseok talking about who knows what and Jongdae wasn’t interested in third wheeling. He resigned to sitting in his chair and watching Hakyeon draw on Jongin’s chest, and blinked slowly when Hakyeon put the pen down and picked up something else. This makeup stuff was really a production. He watched Hakyeon move a sponge around Jongin’s skin sparingly.

“I’m not gonna cover all of it super well. Some guys like it when you look marked, it’s slutty or whatever. Good for our job.” He applied some more makeup as Jongin laughed at him.

“Do you really think I should go home, Hakyeon?” Jongin asked, his voice low, and Hakyeon blinked at him.

“Do you think you can dance your sets tonight?”

“I...I don’t really know.”

“Then I would go home. If you’re not confident then you’ll probably look stiff anyway. And it would be best to get some rest in the state you’re in right now, I don’t want you to hurt yourself even further.”

“You already put all this makeup on me, though,” Jongin said, motioning to his chest, and Hakyeon closed his eyes and waved a hand.

“I don’t care, I’d rather you be relaxing. If I wasted some makeup, whatever, it’s good practice.” Hakyeon looked at him with clear eyes and Jongin stared back at him.

“I think you should go home, too, Jongin,” Jongdae piped up, not wanting to feel like he was eavesdropping. He paused. “Not that I’m trying to get rid of you so I can have this chair or something. I just. Want you to be okay.”

Jongin smiled a little, averting his eyes away from both of them. “Ahh, you guys are nice.”

“Well of course we want you to be okay. We’re not sadists.” Hakyeon said, and Jongin smiled again.

“Should I just, uhh, ask Kris if I can go, then?”

“I can ask him for you, if you want.” Hakyeon put his makeup down on his vanity, and Jongin shook his head, getting up from his chair.

“No, I can do it.” Jongin turned around and was apparently a little thrown off by seeing Kris standing over Tao’s chair with his hands rubbing Tao’s shoulders, but it didn’t seem to deter him too much. “Uhm, Kris.”

“What’s up?” Kris asked, looking over at him, and Jongdae snorted at how Tao mimicked the movement.

“Would it be okay if I took the rest of the night off? I’m kind of...I’m kind of sore. I don’t think I would do well tonight. It was silly of me to try to come to work anyway.”

“He’s limping around,” Tao backed him up, looking up at Kris, and Kris grunted, lifting his hands to rest them on top of Tao’s head.

“Yeah, that’s fine. You’re not getting paid for tonight, though.”

“That’s totally fine. Thank you, boss,” Jongin said, moving over to his station to pull his shirt over his head. Jongdae wondered if the makeup would stain the fabric, but figured it probably wouldn’t.

“You’re welcome. Take care of yourself, take...take a long bath or something,” Kris suggested, and Tao snickered. Kris tangled his fingers in Tao’s hair and Tao whined at him.

“Don’t fuck up my hair.”

“I’m not fucking up your hair, it was messy in the first place,” Kris said, still moving his fingers around like he was massaging Tao’s head, and Tao whined louder.

“It was _styled_ messy, I had to work to get it like that. Now it’s gonna look trashy messy-- stop!” He flailed his hand at Kris to get him to cut it out, and Kris stepped away, cackling. “Don’t do that when I’ve got product in my hair! God, Kris.”

Jongin limped around gathering his things, and Chanyeol’s voice called out as Jongdae watched Jongin putting his jacket back on stiffly. “Jongin, are you still in pain? Minseok told me he gave you medicine.”

Jongin sighed. “Yeah, it’s kind of all-over. It’ll go away.”

“Nnh.” Chanyeol sat up in his chair and Jongdae surveyed the way Minseok watched him. “I’m sorry, buddy. It really sucks that you’re so sore.”

Jongin tried to smile at him. “I’m fine.” He picked his bag up and threw it over his shoulder. “I guess I’ll be off then.”

“Feel better,” Minseok called out to him, and Hakyeon raised his eyes to him.

“Take off the makeup when you get home, you probably shouldn’t sleep in it.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that.”

“If you want anything, just text me,” Jongdae said, flashing a toothy smile since he was proud of having Jongin’s number. Jongin smiled back at him and waved.

“Thank you.” He limped down the hallway towards the back door, and Jongdae watched Chanyeol fidget for a few moments before shooting up on his feet.

“I wanna go see Junmyeon,” he said, and Minseok looked up at him.

“Are you feeling better?”

“A little, yeah.” Chanyeol leaned down to kiss Minseok on the cheek and then went over to the curtains. “I should get back to work before Kris yells at me.”

Kris didn’t seem to notice he was mentioned at all, instead attempting to slink his fingers back into Tao’s hair, and when Jongdae looked back to Chanyeol he saw Chanyeol was blinking at him.

“What?” Jongdae asked, and Chanyeol cleared his throat, motioning Jongdae over.

“Come with me so I don’t do anything stupid,” Chanyeol said, and Jongdae laughed. He couldn’t imagine Chanyeol doing anything so heated that would get him in trouble, but Jongdae got up and went over to him anyway.

“Don’t fuck around!” Hakyeon called out to them right as they left through the curtain, and Jongdae laughed as he followed Chanyeol to the bar.

“What are you going to do? Don’t hit him,” Jongdae said, and Chanyeol chuckled.

“I’m not gonna hit him. Hey!” He called out when he walked up to the bar, going over to where Junmyeon was sitting with his face down on the counter. He grabbed Junmyeon’s shoulder and Junmyeon sat up, looking confused and kind of tired.

Jaehwan raised his voice from behind the bar when Chanyeol came over. “Hey, what are you doing?”

“Junmyeon! I just saw Jongin, what the fuck did you do to him?” Chanyeol barked, his face looking as threatening as Jongdae assumed he could make it, and Junmyeon let out a long groan, looking away from him.

“I know, I know, he’s really sore! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt him.” Junmyeon whimpered, and Chanyeol looked as if he wasn’t expecting this answer. His face twitched a bit as if he wanted to keep being angry, but Junmyeon’s willingness to fess up to his mistake had ruined it.

“If he told you he hadn’t had sex before then you shouldn’t have been so rough with him.”

“Yeah, for god’s sake!” Jaehwan said with his lip curled up, standing there drying a beer glass and looking vaguely amused. He glanced at Jongdae as if he was trying to figure out what the hell was going on, and Jongdae laughed at him.

“I know, I was-- it was stupid. I know. I won’t ever do it again,” Junmyeon whined. Chanyeol bit his lip.

“You have to be gentle with people like him.”

“Yeah, have some compassion, god!” Jaehwan grunted, getting into his fake outrage, and Chanyeol waved an exasperated hand at him.

“Stop it.”

“I know, Chanyeol, I’m really sorry.” Junmyeon looked up at Chanyeol with teary eyes and Chanyeol sighed.

“That’s all. You seem like you know what you did. It’s fine.” Chanyeol moved around so he could get back behind the bar, and he sent a smile in Jongdae’s direction. “Thanks.”

“I didn’t do anything? But you’re welcome,” Jongdae said, climbing up on the stool next to Junmyeon’s since he figured he didn’t have anything else to do, he could goof off. He tried to ease a smile at Junmyeon, but Junmyeon looked distraught over what had just occurred. “Hey, are you okay? I heard you were kinda, uhm, out of it too. Like Jongin.”

“I’m fine. I’m kinda sore but it’s nothing. Is Chanyeol mad at me?” Junmyeon asked, a deep frown on his face, and Jongdae shook his head.

“I don’t think so, I think he’s just worried about Jongin.”

“I don’t want Chanyeol to be mad at me.”

“Chanyeol, are you mad at Junmyeon?” Jongdae asked him, figuring they could solve this problem once and for all right here, and Chanyeol scoffed.

“Of course not.” Chanyeol said. He seemed to have forgotten all about it just as swiftly as he had gotten angry, and Jongdae grinned at Junmyeon.

“There’s your answer.”

“I don’t...okay,” Junmyeon sighed. He looked over at Jongdae with sad eyes and reached a hand out to grab at the beer that was on the counter in front of him. “How are you, Jongdae? Are you well?”

“Yeah, I have no complaints. Today was kind of uneventful until your boyfriend came in.” Jongdae gave him a toothy grin and elbowed his arm. “Boyfriend. Jongin’s your boyfriend now, huh?”

The ribbing made Junmyeon smile a bit, and Jongdae felt good about it. “Yeah, but like, that just started. Like a couple days ago. We’re just having fun with each other.”

“That’s really good!”

“Yeah. It’s, it’s really nice. I haven’t ever really had a boyfriend before.”

Jongdae shot him an incredulous look at this. “That’s bullshit.”

“No, I’m serious.”

“You can’t be serious. You’re-- you’re so good-looking, Junmyeon.” Junmyeon let out an airy laugh that made Jongdae laugh weakly. “You’re really good-looking and you’re fun to talk to. I don’t believe you.”

“Ahh, well, I guess I can’t convince you then. Thank you for saying such sweet things, though,” Junmyeon smiled at him over his drink, raising an eyebrow at Jongdae, and Jongdae laughed again.

“You’re welcome.”

“What, what’s this.” Jongdae heard a familiar voice and whipped around to see Yixing standing there at the side of the bar, looking annoyed and wearing a shirt for once. He stared over Jongdae at Junmyeon blankly and then turned to Jongdae. “Hey.”

“Hey, I haven’t really seen you around tonight.”

“I work harder than all these motherfuckers. Kris just told me that Jongin’s not here, and I have to take over his spot.”

“Ahh, yeah, he was feeling kind of under the weather.” Jongdae glanced at Junmyeon quickly and picked up that he was trying to sink into the floor. “That sucks.”

“I might get paid more, whatever. Hey! Junmyeon!” Yixing called out, and when Junmyeon looked up at him Yixing walked around so he could get closer. Jongdae scooted his seat over a bit so Yixing could get in, and he grinned when Yixing got up in Junmyeon’s face. “You. I know you're paying all my coworkers to have sex with you, like we're a bunch of prostitutes.”

Junmyeon’s mouth dropped open and he looked over to Jongdae for help, looking vaguely insulted but still kind of nervous. “Ahhh, that’s illegal, I don’t do that.”

“Shut up, I know you're trying to cover your ass. Why do you fuck around with everyone but me? Do you not like me? What's wrong with me? I wanna make money.” Yixing ranted, and Jongdae burst out laughing when he was done with his tirade, unable to hold it in. Junmyeon looked entirely flustered from the entire thing and it was killing Jongdae even more.

“There-- there’s nothing wrong with you, Yixing,” Junmyeon laughed awkwardly, as if he wasn’t sure if he should find this humorous or strange. It seemed he had settled on a mix of the two. “I, uhm. I just haven’t talked to you a lot.”

“Then talk to me!” Yixing punched Junmyeon’s side playfully. Jongdae noticed Chanyeol’s eyes trained in their direction, looking amused, and Jongdae laughed at him. “I’m not scary, stop looking at me like that. There’s nothing wrong with me. You wanna talk to me?”

“Uhm,” Junmyeon mumbled shortly, and Yixing continued.

“Fine, I’ll start. I’m Chinese, I’m twenty-seven, I like to eat. Eating is important. I like eating more than most other things. Why are you looking at me like that?” Yixing broke whatever fast-talking facade he was trying to put on, laughing a bit when he studied the terrified look on Junmyeon’s face. “Is that fear? Is that arousal? You wanna fuck?”

Junmyeon managed to laugh at the absurdity, and then shook his head. “Ahh, I have a boyfriend, I’m sorry. I don’t mean for you to think I don’t like you.”

“Fucking hell! Just my luck,” Yixing cursed, and then turned around to look at Jongdae. “That sucks.”

“If you take over Jongin’s shift then you’ll get paid more, you just said,” Jongdae said.

“Yeah, but I’m trying to get an XBOX _and_ groceries! Agh! Junmyeon, you’re fucking my plans up!” He swatted Junmyeon again and Junmyeon laughed out loud.

“I’m so sorry.”

“You better be.” Yixing went around Junmyeon and grabbed a bar stool, bringing it over and placing it in between Jongdae and Junmyeon. “Can I sit here?”

“If you just sit here then you won’t be making any extra money,” Jongdae waggled his eyebrows at him, and Yixing shot him a blank look before smirking.

“You’re a brat. What are you up to after work tonight? I’m single, by the way.”

The smooth way Yixing incorporated that into the conversation made Jongdae think twice about what he had just said, and then his mouth fell open. “Ahh! You talked to your friend? I was wondering when you were gonna get back to me.”

“Yeah, all cleared up. I’m a free man. So we can hang out.” He smirked a bit at Jongdae, and Jongdae thought that Yixing was looking more comfortable with him than he had in a while. “You wanna do that? What are you doing tonight?”

Jongdae thought about it. He had homework, but it was due in a couple days, and he could definitely put it off. “Uhm, I was just gonna go home, I guess.”

“Wanna go home with me?” Yixing asked, and Jongdae sputtered.

“I-- uhm. If you’ll have me, yeah, I guess that sounds fun.”  
  
“You _guess_ it sounds fun?”

“Well, you said you don’t even have an XBOX,” Jongdae shrugged, and Yixing tilted back his head and laughed.

“You think so fast, ahh. Cracks me up.” Yixing smiled, staring at Jongdae for a moment as Jongdae smiled back, and then Yixing moved closer to put his lips on Jongdae’s. Jongdae yelped and jumped for a moment, startled by the sudden movement, and then felt Yixing chuckling against his lips.

“What’s that?”

“Nothing,” Jongdae said, trying to excuse his awkwardness, and when Yixing kissed him again he was much more prepared. After a few moments of his lips moving against Yixing’s he heard Junmyeon make a short sound of surprise, and somehow kept himself from laughing. When he felt Yixing’s eager tongue make an appearance he heard the nearby sound of Jaehwan laughing, and it spooked Jongdae out of whatever trance Yixing had put him in, making him pull away and laugh lightly. “Yixing.”

“What’s up?”

“We can’t just-- ahaha. Right here, oh my god.” Jongdae felt himself blushing brightly and wanted to raise his hands to cover his face, but thought that would make him look even more foolish. “Not out here.”

“Put on a show!” Jaehwan called at them, and Yixing smirked at him.

“Jongdae doesn’t wanna.”

“Boo, Jongdae! Boo!”

Jongdae laughed and flailed his arms at Jaehwan. “Why are you like this? Don’t be like this!”

“I’m gonna go see when I have to take over Jongin’s spot, alright?” Yixing got up from his barstool, and even though Jongdae had been whining at him Jongdae was a little saddened to hear he was leaving. “I’ll come find you later.”

“Ahh, alright. Work hard.”

“I always do. I’ll get you before we close.” Yixing winked at him and walked off towards the curtain, and Jongdae turned his body so he could follow him with his eyes. Whoa. Whoa, that was really weird. He looked back at Jaehwan, who was grinning at him like an asshole, and then noticed Junmyeon making more or less the same expression, just maybe a bit more scared. Jongdae wondered if Junmyeon was actually afraid of Yixing.

“That was so fucking strange,” Jongdae said with a breathy laugh, trying to sound casual, and Jaehwan burst out laughing, not buying it.

“He likes you,” Chanyeol raised his voice from a ways down the bar, shaking an empty glass at Jongdae. “He does!”

Jongdae scowled, trying to force back a smile. “Stop it. You guys are teasing me.”

“You deserve to be teased! You just got kissed!” Jaehwan did a shaky little dance in his spot, hopping up and down on springy knees and making a dumb face. “By a boooooy!”

“Jaehwan! Shut up,” Jongdae chuckled, and then swatted Junmyeon when he noticed him laughing into his drink. “You too!”  
  
“I didn’t do anything!” Junmyeon cried indignantly, and Jongdae flailed again.

“You guys! Wuh,” Jongdae made a noise, since he was completely lost on what to say. He still felt Yixing’s lips on his and it was warm and kind of tingly. He had the strong feeling that he was going to get laid tonight and it was _ridiculous_. “What.”

“Jongdae, you’re so cute,” Junmyeon told him with a little grin, and Jongdae groaned.

“Stop it! Aah! I’m leaving,” Jongdae said, retreating on bouncy legs and making his way to the bathroom, where he felt he could hide from his friends laughing at him. He swung open the door and looked around to find nobody in there, and then walked over to the mirrors. Everything looked clean, which was good, and then he laughed at himself for first taking note of how neat everything looked. Being a janitor had taken a toll on him.

He washed his hands for no particular reason, and then splashed a bit of water on his face just because he was feeling overwhelmed. He saw himself in the mirror and laughed out loud. His heart was racing and he felt out-of-control. What the hell!

Jongdae thought that maybe he should go back out, just in case Yixing was looking for him and couldn’t find him holed away in the bathroom. He cleared his throat, thinking about how silly he felt, and then remembered that if Yixing wanted to find him he could just text him. Because Yixing had his number! And Jongdae had Yixing’s number too! He laughed and did a little dance, and only stopped when he caught his reflection and burst out laughing at himself.

He was being such a fucking _dork_ , he had to stop. This was not good for anyone. He dried his hands and threw the paper towels in the trash, and looked himself over once more before deciding he looked normal enough to go outside. He didn’t look crazed or anything. He was fine, just really fucking goofy. He laughed again and went back out onto the floor, trying to stop smiling but finding it impossible, and went to find something to do to distract himself for a few hours.

 

 


	8. (nsfw) yixing and jongdae spend the night

Later that night when Jongdae had almost finished making the rounds cleaning things in the club, Yixing caught his eye in the reflection of the mirror Jongdae was wiping down. Jongdae smirked to himself and called out to him without turning around. “Are you heading out?”

“Why would I be leaving without you?” Yixing asked, and Jongdae actually scoffed at his boldness. He had managed to calm himself down since Yixing had tried to snog him at the bar earlier, but now just seeing him again was making his heart race in anticipation. Jongdae dropped the rag he was cleaning the mirror with and turned to look at him.

“Are you not tired? Still wanna hang out?”

“Of course.” Yixing gave Jongdae a cocky smile like he was foolish for suggesting such a thing, and Jongdae grinned to himself, moving to gather his cleaning supplies.

“I can finish these mirrors tomorrow or something.”

“Does anyone even really bitch if their mirror isn’t cleaned every night? I can’t see anyone doing that.” Yixing stood in place watching Jongdae put his cleaning supplies back into his closet, and when Jongdae closed the door he turned and stared blankly at him.

“Are you gonna put pants on?”

“Why would I do that?” Yixing said with a laugh, going over to his station and looking around for his clothes. Jongdae stifled a laugh as he went to Jongin’s station and put his laptop and things back into his backpack. He had been quietly enjoying Jongin being out for the night, because it meant he got his very own desk, which made him feel like he made a significant contribution to the club. Maybe he would ask Kris about getting a chair or something. He couldn’t just live in his broom closet.

He threw his backpack over his shoulder and watched Yixing struggle into some jeans and a loose button-up shirt. He stood around for a while, wondering if Yixing had just yesterday learned how to tie lace-up shoes, and then sat down in Jongin’s chair, feeling awkward and not wanting to say anything. He was actually getting laid tonight. Huh.

Well, maybe not. Maybe he would just hang out with him. _Jongdae it’s two AM and you’re going over to a stripper’s house after making out with him earlier._ He lifted a hand to smack himself in the head lightly, feeling silly. He was going to have sex tonight. Sex! Wow. It had been too long. He probably shouldn’t look too eager.

Tao walked in from the dressing rooms, his eyes trained on his phone and not the direction he was going in, and Jongdae watched him, expecting him to run into something. He didn’t, instead just arrived at his station silently, and Jongdae was a little bummed.

“Are you leaving?” Tao mumbled to Yixing, and Yixing glanced up from his shoes.

“Yeah, I’m heading out.”

“See you tomorrow,” Tao said, standing in front of his vanity and not bothering to look at anyone. Yixing gave him a tight smile and pulled his leather jacket from the back of his chair to put it on.

“You ready?” Yixing asked Jongdae, and Jongdae hopped to his feet, immediately thinking that he was appearing too excited.

“Yeah,” Jongdae told him.

“Awesome.”

“Are you leaving?” Tao managed to look up from his phone to look at Jongdae curiously, and Jongdae nodded. Tao stared at him for a moment, then glanced at Yixing, and then back to Jongdae. The side of his mouth perked up in a smirk and he looked back at his phone. “Have fun.”

“Hey, we’re not--” Jongdae wanted to wipe the expression from Tao’s face but Yixing cut him off by grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the curtain. Jongdae laughed and stumbled after him, and looked towards the bar searching for a friend when they walked by it. There was nobody there, and Jongdae figured Chanyeol and Jaehwan had already packed up and left. Damn. He kind of felt like bragging to them.

Yixing said something to him but Jongdae didn’t register it, his mind racing with anticipation. Once they got out into the street, Jongdae felt the chill of the wind and hugged his jacket closer to his body, and Yixing turned around to give him a funny look. “So?”

“I-- what?” Jongdae asked, blinking at him. “Did you say something?”

Yixing snorted at him and brought him over to the curb, waving aimlessly at the cars in the street. “Nothing. Are you okay? Are you tired? It is kinda late.”

“Nahh, I’ve got a schedule figured out for myself. This isn’t late for me anymore.” Jongdae nodded as he watched Yixing try to hail a cab.

“Yeah, I feel like that too. I’m all fucked up now. Going to bed when the sun’s coming up and waking up when people are getting a late lunch.” Yixing laughed at himself and waved some more at the cars driving by. “Assholes.”

“It’s late,” Jongdae reiterated, and stepped up to the curb to try and help.

“This is my least favorite part of the day,” Yixing told him. “It’s cold and I’m out here flailing at cars like an inflatable tube person. I feel like a monkey. Ahh,” he said when a yellow cab rolled up, and nodded. “I guess it’s good it’s so late, at least, there are cabs open.” He opened the door for Jongdae to get in, and then scooted in after him.

The cab smelled vaguely like smoke and some kind of street meat but Jongdae had become used to that in his short time in the city. Yixing told the cab driver his address, and they started to drive off.

“Did you have an eventful night?” Yixing asked, putting his arm around Jongdae’s shoulder, and Jongdae tried to relax and not freeze up. Yixing was so damn casual with him and Jongdae felt like such a dumb teenager sitting with his arm around him.

“Uhm, not really, which I kind of like.” Jongdae stared straight ahead with wide eyes, and was afraid that if Yixing looked over at him he’d see huge pupils and a look of fear. He moved his head down, putting it in the soft crook of Yixing’s neck, and then felt panic again. Was he being too affectionate? Shit. If he jumped away surely Yixing would think he was weird. Maybe he could just...sit there.

Yixing didn’t seem to notice Jongdae’s movement at all, and Jongdae was thankful for his obliviousness. “Really? I like it when shit goes down. I like it when there are fights or someone gets slapped or something. I guess that’s not good for you, though. If people throw drinks or something and you have to clean it up.”

Jongdae laughed shortly. He could remember a few times in his career when he had to mop up a drink or two that had been thrown at people who got grabby. “It gives me something to do, at least.”

“That’s a good way to think about it. Yeah, you don’t really do a lot, do you? We’re a clean people, us strippers.”

Jongdae snorted. “I still have to clean the bathrooms a lot. And some of you guys leave the dressing rooms a mess.”

“Really? Who’s messy?” Yixing turned his head like he was going to look at Jongdae, but Jongdae had his head tucked into the nape of his neck and it made it hard for him to move. Jongdae squirmed a little bit. “I’ll tell them to clean up after themselves.”

“Ahh, don’t do that.” Jongdae smirked a bit.

“No, they shouldn’t make your life difficult.”

“They don’t. I told you, it gives me something to do. Ahh,” Jongdae tried to move his head so he could look at Yixing, and Yixing bumped his shoulder on Jongdae’s jaw.

“Ohh, fuck. I’m sorry.” Yixing apologized, shifting his position, and Jongdae laughed.

“No, I shouldn’t have moved.”

“Your jaw is sharp enough to slice me open, be careful.” Yixing joked, and Jongdae could feel himself blushing a bit, so he ducked his head. Yixing moved his shoulder against him again. “Mm, come back. You’re warm.”

Jongdae swallowed. This was so confusing to him, and it made him regret not jumping from boy to boy in high school like he always wanted to. Maybe then he’d have some experience not being such an awkward douche. He put his head back in the nape of Yixing’s neck and closed his eyes. “Are you cold?”

“Kinda, I should’ve brought a heavier coat.”

“How far are we from your place?”

“Ten minutes, maybe. I have a nice place, you’ll like it.” As soon as Yixing said this he sucked his teeth. “Ahh, maybe not. It’s kind of a mess. I know how you get about that.”

“What? No, you don’t,” Jongdae laughed. “Just because I clean shit for a living doesn’t mean I’m a clean freak.”

“Are you not?”

“Not...really. My room back at school is as messy as anyone else’s.”

“That makes you more human. Clean people are weird.” Yixing nodded like he had put some thought into this before. “And you’re younger, aren’t you? So that makes sense.”

“I know people my age who are clean,” Jongdae said.

“Name ten.”

Jongdae scoffed and smacked Yixing’s leg playfully. “You wouldn’t know any of them, they’re people from school!” He left his hand on Yixing’s leg and willed himself not to squeeze his thigh. He thought about how he’d be able to touch his skin tonight and felt his dick twitch, and then froze. The last thing he wanted right now was to get a boner in the back of a cab. He tried to think about what his parents were doing right now back at home, because that usually killed unwanted erections, and it did the trick quickly.

“Hakyeon told me to wear more clothes at work to see what would happen, so I tried it today,” Yixing started out of the blue, and Jongdae laughed softly at his sudden change of topic. “I don’t think I got as much attention today as I usually do.”

“I did notice you were wearing a shirt when you talked to me at the bar.”

“Yeah, I don’t like that shit. If I’m a stripper then what’s the point, y’know? But these guys walk around in their clothes and still get hit on. They’re all hot.” Yixing huffed. “Hakyeon’s hot. He could get onstage wearing an extra-large parka and rubber boots and people would still drool all over him.”

Jongdae grinned, picturing that image in his head. “Yeah, that’s true. Hakyeon is really attractive.”

“I have to work harder for it. I tried to open my top few buttons but I think everyone was just staring at Tao and Sanghyuk tonight. I’m not gonna wear clothes again.” Yixing scoffed indignantly and Jongdae laughed at the sound. “Clothes ruin my business.”

“I’m so sorry.” Jongdae sat up a bit, moving away from Yixing’s shoulder so he could smile at him. “I think you’re good-looking even when you have clothes on.”

Yixing smirked a little and glanced away from Jongdae. “Awwh, you’re sweet. Thank you.”

“I do like you when you don’t have clothes on, too.” Jongdae couldn’t help but grin toothily, and Yixing looked back over at him, raising an eyebrow.

“I think I knew that already.”

“Naah, no you didn’t. There’s no way you could’ve known that, I’ve never told you.” Jongdae smirked. He thought he was pretty good at keeping his lingering stares to a minimum, but the goofy smile on Yixing’s face at the moment was telling him otherwise. Maybe Yixing had picked up on something. Damnit.

Jongdae was pretty sure he just thought Yixing was the most attractive person working at the club. That made sense, because Yixing was the only one he had ever wanted to stare at for more than a couple days. He always got tired of his other coworkers but Yixing was different. Jongdae didn’t know what that was. He surveyed how low Yixing’s eyelids were and laughed.

“You look tired,” Jongdae said. “You look more tired than I feel.”

“I am tired. I work a lot harder than you,” Yixing said airily, and Jongdae didn’t know if he could argue with that. He swatted Yixing again just for good measure.

“You work a different job than I do.”

“That’s true.”

“Do you not sleep with people?” Jongdae asked, and swallowed as soon as he said it. It was something he was curious about, since he knew some of the other guys there did that kind of business, and he had watched Yixing bother Junmyeon about it earlier tonight. “I mean, if they try to pay you for it.”

Yixing made a sniffing sound and pursed his lips. “Nah, I’m not interested in that.”

“But you were trying to sleep with Junmyeon tonight. Was that just a joke?”

Yixing paused, thinking about it, and Jongdae continued, afraid he had just scared Yixing off. “Whatever you say won’t change my opinion of you, y’know. I still like you.”

Yixing smirked at this. “Thanks. Nah, I think I was just fucking with him. I dunno. I wasn’t actually expecting him to be interested in me, he seems like he’s kind of turned off by...aggressive guys.” He shrugged. “If he had offered, I don’t know what I would’ve done.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I guess we’ll never know.”  Yixing smirked to himself, like there was some joke there that only he picked up on. Jongdae didn’t know what to make of that but also didn’t really care.

“I don’t think I could do that. Whenever the guys talk about accepting money I get kinda weirded out.”

“Well, it’s not legal.”

“Yeah, I just get afraid that they’ll be caught.”

“They need to be more careful,” Yixing sighed. “But Kris is protective as hell of us, I think we’re all good.”

“That’s good, I guess,” Jongdae said, and Yixing reached over to put his arm around him again. He pulled Jongdae over to his shoulder again and Jongdae made a soft sound and then tried to relax. Yixing smelled like a mix of some kind of spice and sweat, but it wasn’t a bad smell, just kind of masculine. Jongdae thought he liked it.

Yixing mused to him for a little while longer about the neon signs they were driving by, and eventually the cab slowed to a stop on a darkly lit street. Jongdae scrambled to get up and look for his wallet but Yixing was handing the cab driver a few bills before he could reach anything. He watched Yixing smile at him and then motion for him to get out.

Jongdae got out of the cab and held the door open for Yixing, and watched Yixing close the door. As the cab drove away Yixing hopped over to a stoop a couple of doors down. “Here’s the building,” he said as he pressed a code into the number pad outside of the door. The number pad made a disapproving sound at him and Yixing scowled as he put the number in again. “Sometimes it fucks around.” The second time worked and Yixing opened the door, letting Jongdae go in first. Jongdae was met with a light heat from inside and he welcomed it.

He stopped once he was in the lobby area, and let Yixing go ahead of him. Yixing grinned at him, the expression looking a bit sillier than Jongdae thought he had seen on his face before, and led him over to the escalator. He pressed the up button and the doors opened immediately, and they went inside.

Yixing pressed a faded number 7, and when the doors closed Jongdae opened his mouth to comment that he had never been in this part of the city before, but he was cut off by Yixing moving close and putting his hand on the back of Jongdae’s head, pulling him into a kiss. Jongdae was ready this time, not flinching and kissing him back. He was proud of himself for not reacting like a dork.

He felt Yixing smiling against him and thought the feeling was hotter than it should be. Yixing kissed him slowly for a few moments, and Jongdae tried to keep up with him. The last person he had kissed was...it had been Yixing, however long ago that was. So not really that long. Jongdae still felt rusty, as if this was a skill he should’ve been perfecting in Yixing’s absence.

When the doors opened again Yixing pulled away, glancing up to make sure they were on the seventh floor before taking Jongdae’s hand and pulling him out. Jongdae smiled and followed him, suddenly ultra-conscious of how sweaty his hand was. Yixing didn’t seem to mind. “It’s right here,” Yixing turned the corner right by the escalator and stopped right at the door there. He reached around his front pocket and pulled out a small set of keys, and opened the door after jostling the key a little bit. He smiled at Jongdae and opened the door for him. “Welcome to this loser pit.”

When Jongdae walked in he noted that it wasn’t nearly as messy as Yixing made it sound on the car ride. There were some things scattered here and there, and a couple articles of clothing strewn across the couch and floor, but there wasn’t any food laying out and the floor was walkable. Jongdae had seen worse rooms in the dorms back at school. Yixing turned the light on and then dimmed it. “If I had known you were coming over earlier I would’ve cleaned.”

“Stop acting like you live in a swamp, this isn’t bad at all.” Jongdae kicked off his shoes and put them at the door, then walked by the kitchenette to plop down on the couch. He looked up at Yixing, trying to make his eyes big and clear. Yixing stood in place and stared back at him, making no expression for a moment and then blinking the blank face away.

“You want something to drink?” Yixing asked him, and Jongdae shook his head.

“No, I’m fine.”

“Wanna see my bedroom?” Yixing smirked, and Jongdae laughed out loud at how blunt he was. He shrugged out of his coat and backpack and rose to his feet, leaving his things on the couch.

“Sure, sure.” Yixing moved over to a door a little ways away from the front door and pushed on it, and Jongdae started to follow him. “Do you want to-- do you want to watch a movie or something?”

As soon as Jongdae said this he realized it was stupid just from the look Yixing gave him. It was some mix of amused and surprised and Jongdae felt so dumb. Of course Yixing didn’t want to watch a movie, he brought him here to have sex. Jongdae knew that. “Or you could just kiss me again.”

Yixing laughed and kicked his shoes off by his bedroom door. “I think I’d rather do that.” He shrugged out of his jacket and let it fall to the floor, and then reached over and pulled Jongdae to him, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and taking him into another kiss. Jongdae felt more comfortable than he did in the elevator, and kicked the door shut behind him with his foot, taking a few steps into the room and making Yixing step back with him.

Yixing wobbled a bit on his feet and kissed Jongdae slowly, and it got Jongdae hot under the collar. Damnit he really kind of wanted to grab Yixing and throw him down to the bed but that wasn’t going to happen. Yixing seemed like he wanted to prolong this and Jongdae was okay with that. Yixing introduced his tongue after a while and Jongdae whimpered softly, opening his mouth against Yixing’s and letting him in.

Their tongues moved against each other and Jongdae moaned again, unable to help it. Suddenly everything was hot and wet and it was disorienting but entirely welcome. He noticed Yixing starting to undo the buttons on his dress shirt and felt his heart start to race. This was happening this was happening! He was making out with a stripper. He looked forward to bragging to his friends tomorrow. Or maybe not, he didn’t know if this was something to brag about.

When Yixing got his buttons done and shrugged his shirt off, Jongdae was positive this was something to brag about. Somehow Yixing shirtless in his room was even more beautiful and erotic than he was in the strip club. Jongdae figured it was because this skin was only for him to see. That thought made him breathe heavy, and he pulled away, looking at Yixing with wild eyes for a second before pushing him down to his bed.

Yixing laughed when his back hit the mattress, and he reached up to grab Jongdae’s hand and pull him with him. “You got some fire in your eyes.” He reached for Jongdae’s mouth with his own and kissed him hard, and Jongdae knelt over him on the bed, dropping his hands to put on Yixing’s hips.

“You’re really hot,” Jongdae confessed, leaning down to keep kissing him.

“Thanks, it’s my job.” Yixing said in between kisses, and Jongdae laughed softly against his lips. Yixing pulled at the bottom of Jongdae’s t-shirt and continued tonguing him, and Jongdae almost fell down on top of him from how weak he felt his arms becoming. This was happening very fast but he was okay with it. He pulled away from Yixing for a second to let Yixing yank his shirt off over his head, and went right back to kiss him when his shirt was thrown on the floor.

Feeling his skin pressed against Yixing’s was like some sort of horny teenage dream coming true. Jongdae could feel his breathing getting slower as Yixing put his hand on the back of his head and pushed him closer. He wanted to moan to express how much he appreciated this, so he did, pulling away from Yixing’s mouth to breathe and wobbling a bit on weak legs. “Can I-- uhm.”

“What’s that?” Yixing asked, moving a hand to Jongdae’s chest to he could circle his nipple with his fingers. Jongdae gasped at his touch and laughed nervously.

“Uhm, can I go to the bathroom?” Jongdae asked, biting his lip into his mouth and looking down at him. Yixing moved his hand away and Jongdae chased it with his own to grab his wrist and put it back on his nipple. “In-- in a minute.”

Yixing laughed and pinched the little nub, and Jongdae gasped again. “Of course.”

“That feels good. Ahh, Yixing,” he moaned a bit when Yixing sat up and kissed him, moving his legs around Yixing’s so he could straddle him and sit in his lap. Yixing moved his lips down Jongdae’s jawline and to his neck, and kissed at the skin there while he rubbed around his nipple with his fingers. “Unnh, god.”

“Can I leave marks, or is that not good?” Yixing asked, his voice sounding low in his throat, and just the sound turned Jongdae on.

He swallowed, and smiled, appreciating that Yixing even had the foresight to ask permission. Maybe he was thinking about the condition Jongin was in today. “Uhm, I’d rather...” Jongdae thought about it. He didn’t have makeup to cover anything up, and he wouldn’t know how to hide it, anyway. Well, he did watch Hakyeon do it today. Maybe he could manage it. But if he didn’t have makeup in the first place-- fucking hell Yixing was rubbing his nipple so slowly it caused a buckle in the back of Jongdae’s knees. “Yeah, go for it,” Jongdae told him. He was going to enjoy this no matter what and deal with shit in the morning.

Yixing lifted his other hand to tease Jongdae’s other nipple and started to suck on his neck. Jongdae moaned and pressed himself closer to Yixing, feeling himself shaking a little bit. Yixing bit at Jongdae’s collarbone and pinched both of his nipples at the same time, and Jongdae hopped up at the sudden touch.

“Unnh, god,” Jongdae couldn’t help but moan, and he felt Yixing breathe out a small laugh against his wet skin. Jongdae swallowed and pulled away from him. “I’m gonna-- I’ll be right back.”

“Alright, baby.” Yixing was looking up at him with a lazy smirk and tired eyes and Jongdae wanted to jump him right there. “There’s a door right over there.” Jongdae eased a smile at him and went in the direction Yixing was pointing him in, and when he got into the bathroom he turned the light on and closed the door.

He looked at his reflection and was turned on by what he saw. His lips were red and swollen, and the parts of his neck Yixing had been working on were a soft shade of pink and glistening in the light. Jongdae undid his jeans and pulled them down, stepping out of them and leaving them on the floor as he eyed himself in the mirror. He moved a hand to touch his nipple and almost jumped at how sensitive he felt. Wow. Wow wow wow. This was really hot.

He sighed slowly and pulled his boxers down to do what he came in to do. Sometimes gay sex was such a hassle but it was worth it, especially when he hadn’t done it in so long. When he felt sufficiently clean he washed his hands and stared at himself in the mirror again, unable to stop grinning. Oh my god Yixing was in the other room waiting for him. Oh my god. The hot guy from work wanted to _have sex with him_. He still couldn’t believe this was happening.

He pulled his boxers back up but decided to leave his pants on the floor, and went back into Yixing’s bedroom, turning off the bathroom light. Yixing was sitting up on his knees, and he glanced over at the door. He had taken his pants off in the time Jongdae was gone and Jongdae swallowed hard at the sudden show of skin. Goddamnit, he saw Yixing nearly naked every day but this was something different. This was some sort of gift. He was enjoying it entirely too much.

“I wanted to take those pants off of you,” Yixing said, his lazy smirk returning, and Jongdae laughed.

“I could say the same to you.”

“C’mere,” Yixing motioned him over with a come hither finger, and Jongdae thought the motion was so story-book that he laughed once more. He went over to the bed and Yixing sat up farther to kiss him, putting his arms on Jongdae’s shoulders and closing his eyes. Jongdae kissed him for a while, excited just to feel Yixing’s lips on his again, and when Yixing moved his tongue against his lips again he moaned and opened up.

When Yixing scooted closer to press their bodies together Jongdae could feel his erection straining at the front of his boxers, and Jongdae laughed softly, pulling away. “Lay down,” Jongdae told him, and Yixing moved away, quirking an eyebrow before doing what he was told.

“What’re you up to?” Yixing asked him, and Jongdae dropped to his knees in front of him. Yixing laughed lowly and leaned his head back, looking up at the ceiling. “Mm, good.” Jongdae moved his hand to the front of Yixing’s boxers, feeling his erection through the fabric and breathing slowly. He liked this dick. This was a nice dick. Yixing didn’t usually get hard when he was dancing so Jongdae had only seen it a couple times, but he knew he liked it anyway.

He moved his mouth to press on it through the fabric, and Yixing exhaled softly. Jongdae gently brought his lips up and down Yixing’s length, stroking it as smoothly as he could. He could feel Yixing getting even stiffer and breathed on it.

He thought about asking if he could take Yixing’s dick out and then assumed that’s what Yixing had been aiming for all night, so he didn’t bother, instead just lifting his hands to pull Yixing’s boxers down. They were tight and he struggled a bit, but Yixing moved his hips from side to side and kicked them off when they were loose enough. “I’m free,” he said airily, and Jongdae grinned at him.

“Hot,” Jongdae said dumbly, before putting his mouth over the tip and swirling his tongue around it. Yixing breathed softly, and Jongdae looked up to see him with his eyes shut tight as Jongdae licked around his cock. Jongdae took the tip into his mouth and sucked on it a bit, trying to go slow and tease him. He listened to Yixing curse under his breath a few times before taking more of his cock into his mouth and sucking on it.

“Fuck,” Yixing grunted, and he moved his head so he could watch Jongdae working. Jongdae felt his eyes on him and smiled a little, moving his head up and down on Yixing’s cock faster. Yixing moaned and called his name. “Jongdae.” Jongdae looked up at him and Yixing grinned. “Spit on it. Get it wet.”

Jongdae blinked at him, staring for a moment, and then pulled off of his dick and burst out laughing, unable to hold it in. Yixing laughed a little bit too and then cleared his throat. “No I mean it.” Jongdae laughed once more and then spit on Yixing’s cock, watching it slide down the side and lifting a hand to stroke Yixing’s cock up and down. It was harder than it had been a minute ago, and Jongdae was intrigued by the power he held over him. Yixing moaned and dropped his head back again. “Ahh, god, that’s it.”

“Is that good?” Jongdae asked softly, and Yixing nodded.

“Fuck yeah. I like it wet. Ahh god,” he moaned shakily when Jongdae took his cock back into his mouth. Jongdae bobbed his head up and down, trying to take his dick in farther each time he went down, and Yixing grunted rhythmically with the way he was moving his head. Jongdae liked the sound, as if it was some refrain in a song written for him. He made a mental note to remember that rhythm for later. He laughed a little bit at himself and the breath on Yixing’s dick made Yixing’s whole body twitch.

He pulled up again to spit on it once more, and listened to Yixing laughing softly. “Unnh, baby, you’re good.” Jongdae felt himself get a little bit red at the pet name and he smiled to himself before putting Yixing’s dick back in his mouth and swallowing around it. He remembered someone in freshman year informing him that he didn’t have a gag reflex, which was something Jongdae had never bothered to test for himself. He was thankful for that, now that he was sucking dick more often. He was born under the right stars.

Jongdae took all of Yixing’s cock into his mouth, letting his throat pulse around it, and Yixing cursed loudly. Jongdae thought the sound was intense and he moaned too, letting the hum vibrate around Yixing’s cock. Yixing breathed and thrusted his hips a bit. “Jongdae,” he said, and Jongdae glanced up at him. “Ahh, fuck, yeah, look at me. Like that.” Jongdae kept his eyes on Yixing’s face as he moved his mouth up and down on Yixing’s cock, and Yixing smirked at him. “Fuck, you’re hot.”

The praise made Jongdae want to grin hugely, but there was a dick in his mouth and he didn’t feel like getting rid of it. He decided to just keep sucking it, and apparently Yixing liked this choice, since he started to thrust his hips up more. The movement made Jongdae’s dick twitch against the front of his boxers, straining to get free.

When Jongdae moved to swirl his tongue around the tip once more Yixing choked and pulled away, shaking his hands at Jongdae. “Ahh, ahh, no more. Can’t do that anymore. Hahaha,” he laughed, the sound awkward and unlike anything Jongdae had heard Yixing make before, and he laughed himself before Yixing grabbed his wrist and tried to pull him up to the bed. “C’mere.”

Jongdae grinned at him and climbed up on the bed, making a soft sound when Yixing moved to kiss him before he could wipe his mouth. “Ahh, Yixing,” he said, trying to get him to stop so he could breathe, but Yixing had his tongue halfway down Jongdae’s throat and was stroking the front of his boxers already. Jongdae felt himself go weak and decided to just let Yixing do whatever he wanted. Yixing kissed him feverishly for a few moments before before pulling away and pushing Jongdae down onto his bed, letting him set himself up against the pillows.

“Can I take these off?” Yixing dipped a finger underneath the waistband of Jongdae’s boxers and Jongdae nodded.

“Yeah, yeah, please.” Yixing shoved his boxers down as soon as he got permission and pulled them off of Jongdae’s foot, letting out a soft sound of wonder when Jongdae’s dick sprung out at him.

“Hi again,” Yixing said to Jongdae’s dick, and Jongdae tilted his head back in a laugh before Yixing took Jongdae’s cock in his mouth. Jongdae moaned and Yixing moved up to spit on it, stroking it with his hand. He wrapped his hand around firmly and moved it slowly, and Jongdae thrusted his hips up, unable to hold himself back.

“Oh, god.”

“That feels good?”

“Yes, it does.” Jongdae bit his lip when Yixing rubbed his palm around the head of his cock. Yixing spit on it again and stroked him harder, and Jongdae couldn’t help but thrust his hips again, feeling like he was fucking Yixing’s hand. This felt much better than it should. It was nothing more than a wet handjob but it felt incredible. Jongdae had no idea what he was in for, and when Yixing dropped his head to take Jongdae’s dick into his mouth he let out a strained groan.

Yixing took most of Jongdae’s cock into his mouth already and Jongdae dropped his head back against the pillows. Holy fuck what was going on. Yixing made sloppy noises as he bobbed his head up and down on Jongdae’s cock, and slowed his mouth around the tip every so often, swirling his tongue around and licking up the precum before taking the whole thing back into his mouth and sucking on it. Jongdae thought he was going to cum and gripped the bedsheets, willing himself to hold out. Yixing groaned a bit around his cock and slowly pulled his head up, letting it slip out of his mouth and grinning up at Jongdae for a moment.

“You’re so good at-- oh,” Jongdae started to praise him, but then Yixing put both hands on his hips and adjusted Jongdae’s position on the bed a bit. He spread Jongdae’s thighs apart so his hole was exposed, and Jongdae whimpered at the feeling.

“You’re so hot. I told you that already, didn’t I?” Yixing mused quietly, licking his lips before putting his hands on the insides of Jongdae’s thighs and spreading them apart farther. He moved his tongue to press at Jongdae’s hole and Jongdae jumped a lot harder than he wanted to because of how it tickled him. Yixing looked up at him, shocked at the sudden movement. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah!” Jongdae felt embarrassed, and nodded. “I’m fine, I just-- ahh.” He laughed. “It tickled. I’ve never done this before.” The college guys he was used to hooking up with weren’t really keen on putting their faces down there, but Yixing seemed to have no problem with it. Damn Jongdae liked older guys.

Yixing gave Jongdae a quizzical look and furrowed his brow. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you a virgin?” He asked, and Jongdae realized Yixing had misunderstood him.

“Oh, no! No, I’m not--” Jongdae laughed at the thought. No, he had lost that right when he got to New York. “I’ve never had someone put their mouth there.”

“Oh.” Yixing chuckled to himself. “Okay, yeah. I didn’t think you were a virgin.” He tried to casually put himself back in between Jongdae’s legs but Jongdae was intrigued by what he had just said, and he moved his hand to put on top of Yixing’s head.

“What’s that mean? Why did you think I’m not a virgin?” He asked with a laugh.

Yixing smirked at him. “A virgin wouldn’t thirst after me like you do.”

Jongdae scoffed, raising his eyebrows at this wild statement. “I do no such thing. I don’t thirst after you any which way.”

Yixing laughed out loud at him. “Ahh, shush. I see you looking at me at work.”

“Yeah, because you’re usually not wearing a shirt. I look at all the shirtless people.”

“You look at me _differently_ ,” Yixing said, licking his lips. “Different from the way you look at everyone else. You really thought I wouldn’t notice? Jongdae,” he said. “Mm, you’re cute.” He dropped his head in between Jongdae’s legs before Jongdae could come up with a clever response, and Jongdae was okay with this, a little flustered from the exchange. Damn, maybe he was thirsting after Yixing and he hadn’t even picked up on it.

He felt Yixing’s tongue poking curiously at his hole and whimpered. This was a strange feeling, not unpleasant, just new. He didn’t know if he liked it or not. Yixing’s tongue was soft and wet and felt good as it moved in circles around his hole, though, and after a few moments of that movement Jongdae concluded that he did like this sensation.

Yixing started to poke his tongue inside and Jongdae whined, taking the bedsheets in his fist again. Yixing moved his hand in to massage the outside of Jongdae’s hole gently with a finger, and Jongdae moaned at the feeling. Holy shit. Yixing moved his tongue in circles around his hole again, and kept moving tantalizingly slow until Jongdae bucked his hips against him. He wanted to feel more inside of him and this teasing wasn’t helping. Yixing prodded his tongue inside again and Jongdae felt his legs go weak. “Fuck,” he moaned softly, and Yixing laughed a little.

The exhale of breath on Jongdae’s sensitive wet skin made him shiver. This feeling was intoxicating and he felt like he could lay there with Yixing’s tongue teasing his hole forever, so when he moved his face away and replaced the touch with his fingers he was a little disappointed. He made a sound when Yixing pushed a finger in up to his knuckle, and bucked his hips again. “Oh, god.”

“Give me a second,” Yixing told him, pulling his finger out and rolling off of the bed for a moment. Jongdae laid there, breathing heavily as he listened to Yixing rummaging around his bedside table for whatever. Yixing returned with a squeeze bottle of lube and a string of condoms, and Jongdae laughed nervously just seeing them.

Yixing poured some lube out onto his fingers and then tried poking at Jongdae’s hole again. Jongdae moaned once more and Yixing smirked at his face. “Is this alright, baby?”

“Yeah, it feels good.” Jongdae grunted as Yixing pushed his finger in a little bit more. “That-- what you were doing earlier. That felt good too. Really good.”

“Mmm, I’m glad you liked it.” Yixing licked his lips watching Jongdae writhe under him, and slowly eased his finger in and out until he felt he could put it all the way inside. Jongdae’s mouth fell open but the pain was bearable, especially with how slow Yixing was taking it. He pushed his finger in and out once more, watching Jongdae’s face, and Jongdae liked the feeling of being watched.

Yixing moved his free hand to rub Jongdae’s nipple again as he kept working his finger inside of him, and Jongdae let out a higher-pitched sound than he would have liked to make. Yixing didn’t seem to think it weird, however, and started to push in a second finger. Jongdae moaned and Yixing pinched his nipple in between two fingers. “Is that good?”

“Yes, fuck, it feels great.”

“I can already tell you’re tight, mm.” Yixing smiled a little and shifted his position in between Jongdae’s legs. Jongdae looked down to see his wet erection standing at attention, and swallowed. It looked a lot bigger from where he was laying, but it wasn’t so intimidating that Jongdae was afraid of it.

Yixing spread his fingers inside of Jongdae and Jongdae groaned, hiking his hips up. “Ahh, fuck.”

“Does that hurt?”

“A little, but it’s-- ahh, ffffuck,” Jongdae moaned again, and Yixing just smirked at him. He took his hand off of Jongdae’s nipple to stroke at his cock, and Jongdae watched him eagerly. Yixing started to fuck him with his fingers faster, and Jongdae let out a long moan. “Fuck, fuck, Yixing.”

“Goddamn, you’re so fucking hot. I wanna fuck you, Jongdae, can I do that?” Yixing reached over and pulled a condom away, trying to tear it open with one hand and failing. Jongdae nodded at him and Yixing pulled his fingers out of Jongdae, which earned him a throaty groan. He tried wiping his hand off on the bedsheet in order to get a good grip on the condom, but was having more trouble than Jongdae thought necessary, so he sat up and took it from him.

“Your hands are wet,” Jongdae told him, and he ripped the package open and took the condom out. Yixing grinned at him.

“Thanks,” he said, and he moved to slip it on his cock. Jongdae watched him with his mouth open, and then looked up to Yixing’s face when it was on.

“Shit.”

“Are you ready?” Yixing grinned at him again, and Jongdae nodded.

“Yeah, I’m really excited,” Jongdae said, and thought that his voice sounded less enthusiastic than it could’ve sounded while saying that sentence. He felt lethargic and slow from all of the things Yixing had been doing to him, and it was a nice kind of sleepy feeling. He watched Yixing squeeze more lube out onto his cock and rub it down, and took pleasure in the way Yixing bit his lip into his mouth as he stroked himself. He felt like he could watch Yixing jerking off all day. Maybe he would ask to do that some other time. Right now he wanted this dick inside of him.

Yixing steadied his cock at Jongdae’s hole and started to push in, and Jongdae groaned immediately. “Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.” He let out a string of curses as Yixing pushed more inside of him and then pulled back, letting the tip of his cock linger instead of taking it all the way out. Jongdae felt Yixing studying his face again but he wasn’t interested in looking at him, instead wanting to just close his eyes and feel everything that was happening right now.

Yixing brought his cock in and out slowly, giving Jongdae a little bit more each time, and Jongdae was shuddering every time he thought Yixing had put his whole length inside but then pulled away. He was teasing him and it was damn near unbearable. He wondered when he had gotten so crazy about wanting to feel Yixing’s cock inside of him, and then Yixing pressed his cock all the way in and Jongdae let out a loud moan. _That_ was it. Fucking hell that felt incredible. He could feel shivers rushing down his body each time Yixing pushed inside and pulled away, and Jongdae wondered what the fuck was going on.

Each move of Yixing’s hips made Jongdae whimper a little bit louder, and when Jongdae finally opened his eyes he saw Yixing biting his lip into his mouth with a cocky grin on his face. Jongdae smiled at him and moved his head to the side, feeling shy all of a sudden. Goddamn Yixing was good at this. He pushed his entire length inside of Jongdae again and Jongdae made another high-pitched sound, this time less self-conscious about it. It felt good and there wasn’t anything he could do about the sounds he was making, so he might as well enjoy it. Yixing was moving slowly and each thrust made Jongdae’s whole body twitch.

“You feel...” Yixing started to say, but then lost his train of thought and let out a soft moan. Jongdae was proud to get the sound out of him. “You feel awesome. Shit.” Yixing laughed once and moved a hand to put on Jongdae’s thigh, getting him to spread his legs a little bit further. When he did this Jongdae felt him push himself inside deeper, and he let out a strained moan.

When Yixing started to go faster Jongdae noticed that there was very little pain, only pleasure burning inside of him. He had never felt anything like this before and it was kind of overwhelming. Yixing put both of his hands on Jongdae’s legs, spreading them apart farther and pushing himself inside harder. Jongdae moaned at the way it felt and Yixing took delight in the sound. “Fuck, that sounds so good, baby.”

“Yixing, oh my god.” Jongdae sounded breathless and for some reason the sound of his own turned on voice was making him hotter. Everything about this was too much for him, and he laughed at himself for getting so worked up. Yixing thrusted in all the way until Jongdae felt his balls slap against his skin, and Jongdae grunted. “Fuck!”

Jongdae thought that Yixing’s cock was the perfect size, and this was confirmed every time Yixing thrusted in all the way. It filled him up completely but wasn’t uncomfortable, and whenever he started to pull out it rubbed up against his prostate and sent a tingle up his spine. This dick was perfect. Yixing moved his hands under Jongdae’s ass and pulled him closer up on his lap, and Jongdae moaned loudly. ”Fucking fuck, Yixing! Fucking fuck fuck fuck!”  
  
Yixing laughed at his raucous cursing and kept pounding his dick into him, and Jongdae felt his legs trembling. “Shit, you feel tight,” Yixing told him, his mouth dropping open, and Jongdae nodded for no particular reason.

“I’m gonna-- _unnh_ ,” Jongdae was already there by the time Yixing thrusted all the way inside of him, and his legs shook, his hips buckling from the sudden rush of pleasure. He shivered all over and dropped his hips, still moaning and grunting from the orgasm. He breathed so heavily he thought he was going to pass out, and tried to keep moving against Yixing’s slowed thrusts. Yixing grinned down at him and pulled his cock out, and Jongdae actually whimpered sadly.

“Can you turn over? I wanna put my hands on your hips,” Yixing told him, and Jongdae laughed softly at his boldness. He scrambled over on his hands and knees, scooting back a bit and waving his ass at Yixing.

“Mm, here,” he said, moving his hips back and forth, and Yixing grinned and slapped his ass, keeping his hand there and squeezing the skin.

“Fuck, you are so hot. I can tell you that all night and I fucking will.” Yixing pushed his dick back inside, just half of the length to let Jongdae get used to the feeling again, and Jongdae groaned loudly, wanting to push his face into the pillows. Yixing put his hands on Jongdae’s hips like he said he would and started to roll his hips against him. Jongdae whimpered and pushed back against him.

After a short while of eager little thrusts, Yixing started to pound his dick inside Jongdae as hard as he was going earlier, and Jongdae let out a low groan. Yixing’s grip on his hips was tight and made him feel secure, and he moaned and rode back against him, sending Yixing’s cock deeper inside of him. He heard Yixing start to groan against him and the sound was music to his ears. He wanted Yixing to feel as good as he felt right now, goddamnit.

Yixing’s thrusts got slower and a little more hard, and Jongdae choked out a moan when he felt Yixing’s balls slap against his own. Everything was sweaty and wet and Jongdae wanted to stay like this for at least another ten hours. Yixing kept fucking him and Jongdae let himself get lost in the strange harmony of Yixing’s grunts, skin slapping against skin, and the mattress squeaking under them.

Jongdae felt like some sort of slut but it was the most natural feeling in the world right now. Yixing slapped his ass again and Jongdae arched his back, scooting back against Yixing and making Yixing groan low in his throat. Jongdae whimpered and reached a hand down to pull at his dick, feeling himself get close again. Goddamn. This was something that he was looking forward to jerking off about later.

“Keep going-- ohh, god, close, I’m close, fuck,” Jongdae told him, his words soft and breathy, and Yixing slapped his ass again.

“I’ll get you there, baby. Fuck,” Yixing rolled his hips against him a few more times before stopping awkwardly and shivering, and the sudden change in movement sent shocks up Jongdae’s legs. Yixing kept fucking him, going a little bit faster, and Jongdae tried moving back against him, jerking at his cock harder.

“Uhh, god, I’m--! _Fuck_!” Jongdae thought he had spent himself with the last one but when he ejaculated onto the bedsheets he realized he had a lot more in him than he thought. Holy shit this was wild. When his legs stopped shaking he slowed his hand on his cock and whimpered again, moaning when Yixing thrusted his cock deep inside of him. He could feel his body calming the fuck down and he realized he was probably done for the night, and he was totally okay with that.

“C’mere baby, c’mere,” Yixing grunted at him, his grip on Jongdae’s hips getting tighter as he fucked him faster than before. He had slowed after Jongdae’s orgasm but sped up a short while after, and Jongdae could feel his muscles flexing under him. Jongdae bit his lip and moaned at the feeling.

“Ohh, fuck, Yixing, Yixing.” Jongdae shuddered, and Yixing let out a strangled moan.

“Fuuuucking hell!” Yixing vocalized when he came, stopping in place for a moment and then thrusting his hips hard against Jongdae once. The thrust made Jongdae’s legs weak and he wobbled forward on them, shivering again when Yixing slapped his ass. Yixing moaned again and moved his hand up and down on his dick while Jongdae rolled onto his back to watch him.

Yixing stared at him with his eyes half-lidded, moving his tongue across his bottom lip and grinning as his hand came to a slow. Jongdae watched the expression and then burst out laughing as hard as he could manage.

“Where’d you learn to fuck like that, Jongdae? What’re they teaching you at that school of yours?” Yixing asked with a lilt in his voice, and he dropped down to get close to Jongdae’s side. He kissed his lips shortly and pulled away, and Jongdae grinned at him.

“I-- I don’t know. I didn’t think my performance was remarkable.”

“That was fucking awesome,” Yixing assured him, and Jongdae nodded, feeling like all the wind had been knocked out of him.

“I know, I was there,” Jongdae breathed with a smile, and then tried to study Yixing’s face through sleepy eyes. Yixing was smirking at him but it wasn’t condescending in the least. Jongdae wanted to hug him and never let him go. That was a strange thought.

He closed his eyes and listened to Yixing taking the condom off and cleaning up the bed, and when Yixing climbed back into bed with him Jongdae sighed. “Shit, my phone’s in my pants.”

“You want it? They’re in the bathroom, right?” Yixing got up and fetched Jongdae’s phone for him, and Jongdae thanked him when he got it. He checked the time - it was almost 4am, god. He was almost always asleep by now. Jongdae sat up a little and sighed.

“I have class in the morning,” he said tiredly, and Yixing shot him a look.

“What, are you trying to leave?”

“I...I have to get back to school,” Jongdae said, and Yixing threw his arm over Jongdae’s front and pulled him down to the bed.

“Stay here tonight. You can go in the morning.”

Jongdae groaned. He didn’t feel like dealing with morning traffic. “But.”

“Come on, I don’t want you wandering the streets this late. Stay.” Yixing pouted up at Jongdae, as if he was trying to pull some innocent expression after what they had just done, and Jongdae couldn’t help but laugh at him.

“ _Fine_ ,” Jongdae said finally, and Yixing nodded at him like he knew he was going to come to this decision. Jongdae opened his phone and sighed. He had class at...ten. He needed to give himself a few hours to get back on campus and take a shower and maybe look over his homework that he was turning in, if he wanted to be a good student. He needed time to do shit. He set an alarm on his phone for eight and groaned at it. He wasn’t going to sleep for very long. Oh well, he’d be able to take a nap after class.

He put his phone on the bedside table and laid back down, and Yixing immediately snuggled up against him. Jongdae thought that was kind of unlike him, but he wasn’t going to question it, not when his entire body felt like a bowl of warm jello. Everything was so comfortable right now he thought he could just die there.

“G’night, sexy,” Yixing told him, and Jongdae laughed.

“Goodnight. Thanks for having me.”

“You should be telling me that, with the way I fucking had you,” Yixing mumbled tiredly, and Jongdae snorted quietly, letting him believe that as he drifted off to sleep. Jongdae thought that he was probably the luckier one, but whatever. It wasn’t a competition.

He listened to Yixing snoring no more than two minutes after he had spoken to him, and Jongdae stared up at the ceiling. He had been feeling exhausted earlier but now he was kind of buzzed, feeling like a swarm of very excited and very sexy bees were floating around in his brain and chest. That was ridiculous. That was by far the best sex he had ever had. He didn’t even think sex could get that good. He felt so stupid for not sleeping with his stripper coworkers earlier. He should’ve known that would’ve been a great idea. Oh well. Now that he had this knowledge he could expand upon it.

 

 


	9. jongdae has a great day

Jongdae woke up at seven AM with a melody in his head, and as he listened to the sounds of Yixing breathing he devised a harmony for it. He laid around for a while, closing his eyes and letting the notes play over and over in his head, and after about five minutes he looked up at the ceiling, his brain still racing. Shit, he was writing very fast. He didn’t want to forget anything. He reached over to grab his phone, to open the audio app and record himself mumbling like he usually did when he was struck with inspiration, and then remembered that he was at Yixing’s place.

Ahh, well, he couldn’t just start singing when Yixing was right there. That would be annoying. He sat up and looked over at the window, and squinted when the sunlight shone a lot brighter than he wanted it to. It was too early for this. He had class in three hours or something, but the refrain wasn’t leaving his head. He carefully got out of bed, trying not to wake Yixing up, and put his boxers on before going into the bathroom.

He felt like he had to pee but he wanted to record whatever was happening in his brain first. He opened the audio app on his phone and cleared his throat, trying to replicate the notes he had thought of, and when he managed a thirty-second audio file he sighed to himself and replayed it. It was messy, of course, but it worked. He did his business and went to the bathroom door, staring into the bedroom and watching Yixing fast asleep on his bed.

Jongdae felt a little tickle in his chest and went back into the bathroom, closing the door. This song was going to be written whether he wanted it to be or not, and Jongdae was always a slave to his brain when he thought he was writing something good. He riffed softly to himself, trying to find something that would fit in with the vibe he was going for, and then plopped down on the floor to record a few more sounds.

He developed a harmony for what he thought was going to be the chorus and then scrolled through the seven audio files he had just made. This part was always frustrating, but he was okay with it. He played each one back and made a face at the very first, frowning and deleting it. He needed to remember to always warm up before just blindly recording something.

He had about a minute and a half of something written before he leaned against the wall and stared ahead. What was he doing? He was at Yixing’s place. If he wanted to record something he’d have to be back in his dorm room with his laptop speakers and his keyboard. He couldn’t just...he glanced at the time and saw it was seven thirty, and he cursed out loud. Had he really been sitting on the floor in Yixing’s bathroom for a half an hour? Kind of gross.

Jongdae got up and went into Yixing’s bedroom, and made a sour face before leaning over the bed and shaking him awake. He felt bad to do it, since Yixing looked more calm when he was sleeping than Jongdae had ever seen him at work, but Jongdae didn’t want to just dart without saying goodbye. Yixing blinked sleep out of his eyes up at Jongdae, and then sat up when he saw Jongdae was out of bed.

“Hey, what’re you doing?” Yixing asked him, looking around for something he couldn’t find and then flopping down on the bed.

“I’m gonna head back to school, if that’s alright,” Jongdae said, going back to the bathroom to collect his pants from the floor, and he smiled softly at the whine Yixing gave him.

“Fuck school, you’ve already got a job,” Yixing muttered, watching him come back into the room and smiling slowly at him. Jongdae smiled back and Yixing sat up, trying to get himself out of bed. Jongdae’s eyes glanced over Yixing’s naked body for a moment while Yixing kept looking for something.

“I just don’t want to be late. I want to take a shower and all that before class.” Jongdae picked his shirt up off of the ground and pulled it over his head, and got his head through the collar just in time to see Yixing throwing his hands up in the air when he found his phone on the floor.

“Alright, alright,” Yixing said tiredly, poking at his phone, and Jongdae smiled at him, walking up and hugging him from behind.

“It’s not the end of the world,” Jongdae crooned, trying to sound cute, and the yelp Yixing made as he flailed away from him sounded not unlike a little yappy dog. Jongdae laughed out loud at him and Yixing swatted in his direction.

“If you breathe on me like that it tickles! Fuck!” Yixing’s face went from angry to laughing in a matter of seconds and Jongdae laughed at him again.

“Alright, fine. I didn’t bring anything in here, did I?” Jongdae went out into the living room to find his coat and backpack, and very distantly heard Yixing whining out loud. He went to the couch and pulled his coat on, and as he looked at his backpack he realized his laptop was in there. “Fuck!” He cursed, moving to open it, and apparently he had cursed loud enough to raise Yixing’s suspicion, because he was suddenly standing right in the doorway, looking at him.

“What, what’s wrong?”

“Oh, I just--” Jongdae laughed at his outburst, thinking it was silly. “I didn’t plug my laptop charger in last night, so it might’ve died. Fuck. I need it to be at full power at school. Fuck. Whatever, I’ll just charge it when I get back.” Jongdae closed his backpack and threw it over his shoulder, looking up at Yixing, and Yixing pouted at him.

“Schoolboy,” he said slowly, and Jongdae grinned.

“I’m building the future.”

“Good for you. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Yixing leaned against the doorway, and Jongdae glanced down at his dick once more before nodding at him.

“Yeah, uhm, are you not working tonight?”

“No, I’m off.”

“Okay, cool. Well I’ll be there. Sorry for just-- for just bolting like this.”

“No problem. Just means you’ve gotta spend some time with me some other night to make it up.” Yixing raised an eyebrow at him, and Jongdae laughed breathlessly.

“Okay, I’ll see you.” Jongdae pulled at his backpack straps and walked to the door, but stopped when he walked by Yixing and stared at him. Yixing stared back. “Uhm.”

“Whatcha lookin’ at?” Yixing asked him, and Jongdae swallowed.

“Can I kiss you? Since we kissed last night.” Jongdae said. Yixing smirked and moved towards him, putting his hand on the back of Jongdae’s head and pulling him close. Jongdae felt Yixing’s lips against his own and hadn’t been expecting something so hot, so his knees buckled a bit and he felt silly. They kissed for a moment until Yixing nearly pushed Jongdae away from him, looking at him under heavy eyelids.

“Get to school, we’ll save all that for later.”

“Do you like me?” Jongdae asked, feeling bold out of nowhere, and Yixing gazed at him for a while longer.

“I like your style, Jongdae,” Yixing told him, and Jongdae couldn’t tell what kind of weird old man compliment that was. He didn’t know if Yixing was talking about his clothes or his demeanor or anything. But it seemed like a suitably Yixing thing to say, so he wasn’t going to press it.

“Thanks?” He still couldn’t help sounding confused in his reply, but he smiled at Yixing anyway. “I’ll see you later.”

“See you,” Yixing waited at his doorway watching Jongdae leave, and when Jongdae got out the door he heard Yixing lock it behind him after a moment. Jongdae sighed and left the building, and brought himself to the nearest Subway station he could find, checking his phone. He’d probably be home in...a half an hour or so. He’d have enough time to record whatever he wanted to on his laptop before class, as long as his laptop permitted.

He got on the subway after waiting for a short while and sat in the very back, as far away from other people as he could get himself. He didn’t know if inspiration was going to strike again and he’d have to mumble something into his phone, so it was best to be safe. About twenty minutes into the ride he was right, and pulled his phone out, looking around nervously to make sure nobody was looking at him.

He started humming the new melody into his phone and after about ten seconds an older lady turned around and looked at him. He choked and stopped, bringing his phone down from his face. Didn’t seem like he was going to be able to get away with that. Oh well.

Jongdae got back into his dorm at a little after 8, and was pleased with himself. That gave him enough time to record. He hooked his laptop up to its charger to save it, and then powered up his audio recording program, moving to plug in his microphone and speakers. Hopefully his neighbors wouldn’t mind this happening at 8am, he thought as he hooked up his keyboard to the USB slot. They should be waking up and greeting the day anyway, Jongdae snorted to himself.

He listened to the recordings he had made on his phone and tried to transition them onto his keyboard, and he was messier about it than usual. He figured he was tired, he wasn’t used to composing at this time of the morning. Usually he wrote during the day, after classes, but his best work always came out of 3am sessions after work. He had no idea what this song was going to be.

Jongdae lost himself in recording as he clumsily tapped his fingers against the keys and hummed into his microphone. It sounded good after a while, and he pulled away from his equipment to play it back. It was coherent, and a soft, quiet kind of song that he pictured people listening to while they did homework. A song to focus to. He hadn’t written one of those in a while, since he had become so preoccupied with a hard rock sound ever since he listened to Tao’s Fall Out Boy album. This was exciting.

He glanced down at the time on his laptop and gasped out loud when he saw it was almost 9:40. Shit, he had been recording for a while. Shit, he had class soon! He frowned and went to save the progress he had made. He thought that maybe if he worked on it a little bit more after class, it would be done, and he could save it as a demo. That was great, he couldn’t remember the last time he had written something so quickly.

What did he name it? It didn’t have lyrics, and Jongdae hadn’t exactly been basing it off of anything. It was just a melody that popped into his head when he woke up this morning. Uhm. The Yixing song. The song that he wrote in Yixing’s bed this morning. He scowled at himself, he couldn’t just have a file called “yixing.wav” on his computer, come on. He smashed his fingers against the keyboard shortly and saved it as that. That was good enough.

Did he have time to take a shower? Fuck, he didn’t think so. His academic building was kind of a walk and he had twenty minutes. He groaned and got up, moving around his room to get himself ready for class. He could put on body spray and call it a day. He would shower after he got back. He felt gross at the realization already, and when he was ready to go to class he checked his laptop’s battery power. It wasn’t great, even though it had been plugged in for a while, there had been the audio recording software running the entire time, which didn’t help. Fuck.

Whatever. He closed up his laptop and put it back in his backpack anyway, and brought the charger along just in case he could get a seat next to an outlet. He packed away all his things and threw his backpack over his shoulder. He was in a great mood, even though he hadn’t gotten that much sleep and felt unclean. Whatever! He wrote a song today! He made an excited sound as he locked his dorm room door behind him on his way to class.

* * *

 

An hour before work, Jongdae got a picture message from Yixing with no caption. It was an image of a pug posing under a cherry blossom tree, and Jongdae stared at it for a long time before asking him what the fuck it was for. That was the first message Yixing had ever sent him and it was completely random. Jongdae liked that.

 _i thought youd enjoy it_ , was Yixing’s response, and Jongdae threw his head back on the train and laughed at him. When he got into a cab five minutes later he was still chuckling to himself, and he was in a great mood when the cab dropped him off outside the club. He walked in, bouncing on his feet, and grinned hugely when he walked by the bar and saw Kyungsoo sitting there.

“Hey! Kyungsoo!” He called out, going over to him, and Kyungsoo shook the lethargy out of his eyes before smiling back at him.

“Hi, Jongdae, it’s been forever.”

“You don’t visit very often! Special occasion?” Jongdae laughed, finding it a little bit awkward when Kyungsoo held out his hand for him to shake, but he shook it anyway. He had sucked Kyungsoo’s dick in the bathroom. They didn’t need to be shaking hands. Whatever.

“Uhm, not really. I just wanted to see my roommates.” Kyungsoo adjusted his position on his barstool and smiled at him. “Have you been doing well?”

“Yeah, I have been. Had a great day. Great week. Things are great for me.” Jongdae beamed at him, unable to stop it, and waved excitedly at Chanyeol when Chanyeol caught his eye.

“That’s good.”

“How’s your show doing?” Jongdae asked, moving to sit in a barstool next to Kyungsoo’s, and Kyungsoo cocked his head to the side.

“It’s fine. Going as well as it has been, which is good.” Kyungsoo didn’t turn around to face Jongdae but leaned his arms back on the counter so he was still near him, and Jongdae waved Chanyeol over.

“That’s really good. Chanyeol! Chanyeol, I wrote a song this morning!”

“Really?” Chanyeol came over, leaving the drink he was making for Jaehwan to finish, and grinning at Jongdae. “That’s awesome.”

“Yeah. It doesn’t really have a drumline so I didn’t have to get you or anything. Just some instrumental stuff, I dunno. I wrote it really fast.”

“It’s great you’re working.”

“Can I hear it?” Kyungsoo asked, glancing over at them, and Jongdae looked back at him, suddenly a little scared.

“I-- uhm. It’s not finished yet, just a demo.” He explained, looking back and forth between Kyungsoo and Chanyeol. “Maybe when it’s done.”

“Alright.”

“Chanyeol!” Jaehwan’s voice called out, and he came over to where everyone was, bringing a rag with him to smack Chanyeol’s arm. “Did you leave that for me?”

“Yeah, I thought you could finish it.”

“You can’t just leave it sitting there! It settles! Chanyeooool!” Jaehwan moved his hips back in forth in such a way that showed he wasn’t actually that mad, and Jongdae snorted at him.

“Sorry, I got distracted,” Chanyeol grinned at him, and then put his hand on the top of Jaehwan’s head. Jaehwan pouted at him and then pulled away.

“Make it over again.”

“Jaehwan, it’s fine, I walked away from it for a minute.”

“It’ll get all gross,” Jaehwan said with a sigh, and Chanyeol looked over at Jongdae to roll his eyes.

“Hey, how do I get a lap dance?” Kyungsoo inserted himself into the conversation by changing the topic and glancing over at them, locking eyes with Jongdae. Jongdae laughed at him.

“Kyungsoo, oh my god,” Chanyeol said under his breath with a grin. Kyungsoo didn’t look back at him.

“Uhm, it’s not that difficult. If you see one of our guys walking around just go up to him and start talking. Don’t be creepy.” Jongdae furrowed his brow, not sure why he had said that. He couldn’t imagine Kyungsoo being creepy towards anyone, but he didn’t really know him. “I mean, don’t just go up and ask prices. Unless you want to, I dunno.” Jongdae shrugged. “I’m sure people do that. I’ve never done it before.”

“Huh. That sounds easy enough.” Kyungsoo’s eyes were trained on Jongin dancing onstage, and Jongdae smirked to himself. That was an interesting thought.

“I’m gonna go work,” Jongdae told Chanyeol, and Chanyeol nodded at him, lifting a hand to give him a thumbs up.

“Work hard. Oh, wait! If you see Junmyeon back there, tell him he left his wallet up here. I think he went backstage, I dunno.”

“Okay, I’ll do that.” Jongdae slapped the counter a few times before heading backstage.

Right as he walked through the curtain he was met with Hakyeon standing in the doorway to the dressing rooms looking at him, and then Tao’s voice called out excitedly, “Jongdae, how was fucking Yixing?”

Jongdae didn’t have the time to look for where Junmyeon was because Hakyeon was immediately squawking in his direction. “What is he talking about? Jongdae? Is Tao fucking with you?”

“I--” Jongdae laughed out loud at the situation. “Uhm. No, I, I hung out with Yixing last night.”

“You fucked him, right?” Tao asked, sitting backwards in his chair and grinning at Jongdae like a smarmy douche. Hakyeon’s face was contorting in multiple directions and Jongdae didn’t know how he wasn’t cackling at it.

“Why would I tell you that?” Jongdae lilted, looking around for an open spot to sit in. As he surveyed the room he didn’t really see one. Junmyeon was sitting at Jongin’s station and was currently talking to some kid Jongdae didn’t recognize, and Jongdae figured that must be the new guy Kris said was coming. Shit, he didn’t remember his name.

“Jongdae, I don’t want you having sex with-- with _anyone_ ,” Hakyeon huffed, and then closed his eyes. “That’s not true. That’s not true at all! I want you to be safe!”  
  
“I’m safe, _mom_ ,” Jongdae teased, and Hakyeon made a few more whiny noises.

“You better be. I trust you.”

“I’m not doing anything bad. I’m just living my life.”

“Yes, I know. That’s fine.” Hakyeon sighed heavily. “My child, growing up.” He blinked at Jongdae before giving him a little smile and turning on his heel to go back into the dressing room area.

“Are you really not gonna say anything?” Tao grunted. “He’s not here, you can talk as much shit as you want.”

“I’m not going to! And there isn’t anything to talk shit about, Tao.” Jongdae rolled his eyes and dropped his backpack at the foot of Tao’s desk. “I’m just-- I’m just putting that there.”

“Mhm,” Tao told him, as Jongdae went over to the new person he didn’t recognize.

“Hi, hi!” Jongdae knelt down a little so he could be on the sitting peoples’ level, and he grinned hugely at the new person. He looked spectacularly young, with a baby face and soft-looking brown hair, and Jongdae assumed he must be eighteen.

“Hi,” he responded, giving Jongdae a little smile, and Jongdae took a page from Kyungsoo’s book and offered his hand to him. The boy took it and shook it limply. “I’m Sehun, I just got here tonight.”

“That’s awesome, Kris said we had a new guy coming in. I’m Jongdae, I clean things. I guess you could call me the janitor but I don’t like that, that reminds me of sweaty old men walking around my middle school. If you ever spill anything I can cle--” he frowned at himself. “I can direct you to my closet where you can find things to help you clean up.” He nodded. Good for him.

“Okay, thank you,” Sehun said with an amused look on his face, and Jongdae felt Junmyeon pulling on his sleeve.

“Jongdae, Jongdae. Sehun dances, did you know that?” Junmyeon told him, and Jongdae laughed.

“Uhh, I guess I did because he works here? All of the guys here dance.”

“No, not just on stage here, I mean he goes to dance classes and stuff.”

“Really? That’s cool.” Jongdae turned to smile at Sehun and then remembered what Chanyeol had asked of him, and turned back to look at Junmyeon. “Hey, you left your wallet at the bar.”

Junmyeon scowled. “Fuck, did I really?” He stood up and groped around himself, making a move like he was going to leave, but then plopped back down in his chair. “Ahh, I want to see Jongin before I leave. I’ll get it before I go.”

“Alright. You’re leaving so early?”

“Yeah, I don’t really have a lot to do here anymore,” Junmyeon said simply, and Jongdae put two and two together and figured now that Junmyeon had a boyfriend he wasn’t paying for a lot of private dances. That made sense. Jongdae snorted at it and turned back to Sehun.

“Hi, yeah, sorry, I was just sent back here with a mission for him.” Jongdae smiled sheepishly. “You dance around here? So you’re from here?”

“Yeah, I’m from the city.”

“Ahh, you’re all from the city. I’m from DC, I’m still getting used to it. I go to NYU.”

“Oh, you’re so lucky.” Sehun stared blankly at him and then smiled. “I want to go to school.”

“Well save up the money you make here and you’ll be there in no time.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m doing,” Sehun said, and he raised his eyes when the curtain flew aside and Jongin walked through it. “Ahh, Jongin!” He called out playfully, and Jongdae thought the sound was kind of weird compared to the soft-spoken little sentences Sehun had been giving him. Jongdae smiled a little and stood up, his knees getting tired.

“Sehun,” Jongin said shortly, moving over to his spot and putting his arm around Junmyeon. He was sweaty and shirtless but Junmyeon didn’t seem to mind, just rested his head on Jongin’s side and closed his eyes. Jongdae smiled at them.

“Take a picture with me,” Sehun said, reaching for his phone, and Jongin made a face.

“What? Why?”

“For instagram,” Sehun said plainly, and Jongin coughed out a laugh.

“Uhm, sure. Let me put a shirt on first,” Jongin said, moving to his spot to rummage around for his shirt, and Sehun pursed his lips as he unlocked his phone.

“Do you want me to take it for you?” Junmyeon asked as Jongin pulled his t-shirt over his head. Sehun frowned.

“No, it has to be selfie. Has to look like I took it.” Sehun angled his phone up like he was going to take a picture of himself, and then spun around on his butt in the chair, looking for other lighting options. Jongdae laughed at him and moved to take his bag from Tao’s station and move it over to Hakyeon’s since he wasn’t there.

“Alright, what do I do?” Jongin asked, moving over to where Sehun was and leaning down. Sehun pulled him closer and angled his phone in front of them.

“Just do whatever you do in pictures, I don’t know. Just look normal and hot. Or brooding or whatever, I don’t know what your thing is,” Sehun made a high-pitched laugh and Jongin looked like he was trying not to explode with chuckles.

They took a few pictures, Sehun turning his phone around and checking it each time before deeming it unacceptable and trying again. On the fourth one Jongin pointed at his phone. “I like that.”

“You would, you look great.”

“Use that one.”

“I look kind of weird.”

“Nah, you look fine.”

“I don’t want to look fine! I want to look sexy!” Sehun called out, raising his phone again, and Junmyeon chuckled at them. Jongdae smiled at looked over at Tao, but Tao seemed very immersed in watching Sehun take pictures, and didn’t notice him.

After a while Sehun got the perfect shot he was looking for and curled up in his chair poking at filters. Jongin had a permanent smile on his face as he went back over to Junmyeon, who got up and let Jongin sit down in his chair. “Sehun, why’d you want to take a picture with me?” Jongin asked.

“You get more followers if you post pictures with hot people. That’s how it works, right? So if I look like I have hot friends, people will follow me to see more pictures of them.” Sehun nodded, and Jongdae could definitely tell he was a teenager.

Jongin laughed bashfully and smiled at Sehun. “Thanks, I think.”

“Why didn’t you take one with me?” Tao asked, leaning over in his chair in order to curb the distance in between his glare and Sehun, and Sehun looked up at him.

“You?” Sehun stared at him for a moment, as if he was thinking over some important decision, and then shrugged. “Okay. I’ll take one with you.”

Tao looked almost insulted, as if he knew Sehun was choosing him as a backup, but he got up and walked over to him anyway.

“You’ll get the most followers that way,” Tao said, pointing at Sehun’s phone after they had taken a picture together. Sehun grinned and nodded.

“Sure, sure.”

“Let me follow you.”

“Can I follow you too, Sehun?” Junmyeon asked, taking out his phone, and Sehun looked up at him.

“Uhm, sure.”

“What’s your username?”

“It’s...uhh. It’s cockse-- I’ll just put it in your phone,” Sehun reached out and made grabby hands at Junmyeon, who smiled and handed him the phone. Sehun tapped away and Tao frowned at him, reaching over to grab Sehun’s phone while he wasn’t using it.

He looked around for a while and then made a face. “Cocksehucker. That’s your fucking username.”

“My friend made it for me,” Sehun said shortly.

“You’re weird.”

“Mhm,” Sehun replied, handing Junmyeon’s phone back to him, and he looked over at Tao to see him on his own phone.

“Will you follow me back? I’m junmoney91,” Junmyeon told Sehun, and Jongdae snorted out loud.

“Junmoney91?”

Junmyeon made a silly face and grinned at Jongdae. “I like it! I think it’s fun!”

“Is that an anagram?”

“Yeah, it’s the name my frat brothers chose for me. And my birth year.”

“You’re in a frat?” Jongdae cocked his head to the side and smirked. “I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Nooo, is it because I’m kind of little? People tell me that all the time, that they expect frat guys to all be hulking white guys. Nope.” Junmyeon got up and dusted his pants off. “I’m 5’9” today.”

“But not every day?” Jongdae asked him, noting that Junmyeon did look a little bit taller than usual when he stood up.

“No, I’m wearing insoles.”

“Hah!” Tao intoned a laugh, and Junmyeon tried to ignore it, looking back at Jongdae.

“You still don’t look like any more of a frat guy,” Jongdae told him with a smile that Junmyeon returned.

“I guess I’ll take that as a compliment. I feel like most people don’t have very good mental images of frat guys. Baby, I’m gonna go,” he turned around and reached to take Jongin’s hand. “I gotta get my stuff.”

“Alright, I’ll see you.” Jongin smiled at him and leaned in when Junmyeon went to kiss him, and Jongdae almost did a little dance seeing how happy they were. Jongdae felt like the most skilled matchmaker in the club, and then realized that there probably weren’t other people trying to play matchmaker. Then he was running unopposed, and that was cool too.

“Bye, Jonginnie. Bye, Sehun, it was nice to meet you. I hope you like working here.” Junmyeon waved a little at them and gave a stiff wave to Tao. “Bye Tao.” He turned his sights on Jongdae and grinned. “Ohh, Jongdae! I’ll see you later!” He bounced over and hugged him and Jongdae had no idea what was going on, just laughed and hugged him back.

“Yeah, I’ll see you! Don’t forget your wallet!” Jongdae called as Junmyeon left. He moved to sit down in Hakyeon’s chair and then sighed, looking over at Tao. “Will Hakyeon care if I sit at his spot?”

“He’s been hiding in his dressing room tonight so I don’t think so,” Tao said without looking up from his phone. Jongdae nodded and started to unpack his backpack at Hakyeon’s station. He took out his laptop and set it up, and then reached in his front pocket for his headphones. He had the urge to listen to his new song once more, not to pick out inconsistencies, just to listen to it. That was a nice feeling. He was looking forward to something he created.

He put his headphones in and turned the volume up, and sighed to himself. He hoped he didn’t have to work too hard tonight. He was having a great day and just kind of wanted to relax. He hoped that Yixing’s absence from work didn’t bring him down, and then thought that was a strange thought to have. Since when did his fun at work rely on Yixing being there? Jongdae shook his head at himself and smiled. He was going to be fine. Maybe Yixing would send him more pictures of pugs.

 

 


	10. jongdae pours a drink and watches a fight

Two weeks later Jongdae’s days had become very repetitive and uneventful, which kind of bummed him out. He hadn’t had a chance to spend time with Yixing again, with Yixing acting exhausted and uninterested nearly every time Jongdae tried to talk to him. Jongdae was a little discouraged by it but he was getting over it. He didn’t know what he wanted from Yixing anyway.

When Yixing came up to him in the backstage area and grabbed either sides of his face, Jongdae made a surprised sound and flailed a bit as Yixing started to kiss him. Jongdae laughed and pulled away, looking side to side to make sure they were the only people in the room. “Ahh, Yixing! You can’t just-- no.”

“Why not?” Yixing asked him, a playful smile perking up the side of his cheek, and Jongdae laughed once more and shook his head.

“We just can’t. I don’t want to do that at work. We could get caught.”

“Nobody's gonna get mad at you for making out with me at _the strip club_ , ahh. Seriously, nobody cares.”

Jongdae sighed. “I care. And my job is different from yours, I don’t think I’m supposed to be making out with _anybody_. Not when I should be cleaning something.”

“I haven’t seen you clean anything tonight,” Yixing pursed his lips, looking playful, and Jongdae eyed him for a moment before smirking.

“We’ve been very careful.”

“I told Tao to clean his shit up,” Yixing said, sounding proud of himself, and Jongdae’s mouth dropped open.

“Whoa, Yixing, you didn’t have to do that.”

“Just wanted to make your job easier, it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

Jongdae frowned. “But now he’ll think I was complaining about him.”

“No, I told him that he was bothering _me_. So if he’s got a problem it’s with me. But he doesn’t give a fuck, he’s Tao. Don’t be so paranoid.” Yixing laughed.

Jongdae groaned and swatted Yixing very lightly on the arm. “Okay, fine. Thank you, Yixing.”

“That’s more like it.”

“Shouldn’t you be working?” Jongdae asked with a little grin, and Yixing rolled his eyes.

“Not when I’m back here with you, there’s nothing I have to do.” Yixing smirked at him, looking confident and sexy and driving Jongdae wild. Jongdae clenched a little fist out of pure sexual frustration and sighed.

“Ahh, when you say things like that, I don’t know how to reply,” Jongdae said, plopping down in Tao’s chair. Yixing laughed and stepped towards him.

“Really? You get flustered when I speak?” Yixing emphasized the last consonant and Jongdae swallowed, staring at him.

Jongdae felt his phone go off in his pocket and reached a hand in to take it out. “Only when you say flowery things to me.” He looked at his phone and saw he had a text from Chanyeol, telling him that he spilled vodka behind the bar and he couldn’t walk around. Jongdae sighed and stood up. “I have to go clean something. It’s like the world knew you were _finally_ taking a break.”

“Ahh, what are you saying? Do you think I work too much?” Yixing sat down in Hakyeon’s chair when Jongdae got up, and Jongdae went over to his broom closet to take out the mop.

“I think you work a lot more than some of the other guys, at least.” Jongdae pulled the mop out and closed the door behind it, then turned a smile on for Yixing. “But I like how you work a lot. It’s...admirable. I try to work hard too.”

“That means we have no time for each other,” Yixing said as Jongdae rolled the mop towards the curtain. Jongdae laughed out loud.

“We should figure out how to make that, then,” Jongdae said, giving Yixing a smirk before leaving through the curtain. As soon as he was out onto the floor he exhaled heavily, feeling as if a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. Sometimes talking to Yixing was so intimidating, but he was getting the hang of it.

Chanyeol and Jaehwan were both standing in front of the bar with their arms crossed on their chests when Jongdae walked up to them and it made Jongdae laugh out loud. Chanyeol kept pouting in Jongdae’s direction but Jaehwan smiled breathlessly at him. “Hey, Jongdae.”

“Hey there. I heard you spilled some vodka back here.”

“I knocked over a fifth on the floor, and then on myself.” Chanyeol sighed. “I’m sorry.”

Jongdae laughed airily and moved to stand behind the bar, looking at all the liquid on the floor. “It’s fine. Wow, this is a lot.”

“Yeah, I can feel it coming out of my paycheck.” Chanyeol put his arms at his sides and Jongdae noticed his white shirt was clinging to his skin.

“Your shirt’s kinda see-through,” Jongdae pointed out, glancing at him for a moment before starting to mop up the spill.

“That’s what I told him, but he won’t take it off,” Jaehwan said.

Chanyeol groaned. “I don’t have another shirt to put on.”

“There are a lot of shirts backstage,” Jongdae said. “Or you could just, I dunno, bartend shirtless. You’re in the right place for it.”

Jaehwan cackled while Chanyeol gave Jongdae a sheepish smile. “Yaagh, I don’t want to do that.”

“I think you should!” Jaehwan swatted Chanyeol’s arm. “I think we need to transition to that. Tonight’s a good night to start.”

Jongdae laughed and listened to Jaehwan and Chanyeol arguing about bartending shirtless as he mopped up the vodka from the floor. He noticed an explosion of limbs a moment later and looked over to see Chanyeol peeling his wet shirt from his chest.

“I can do this,” Chanyeol told Jaehwan, sounding more like he was reassuring himself than his friend. Jongdae smirked at him.

“I’m sure Kris would be proud,” he told him. Chanyeol laughed at him.

Jongdae attempted to wring out his mop but struggled when it got caught on some pre-existing stickiness. He shook it back and forth and glanced up when he heard a new voice joining them.

“What’s going on?” Junmyeon asked, looking tired and sort of sick. Jongdae noted that his eyes and cheeks looked rubbed red and vaguely wet. He motioned up and down at Chanyeol’s shirtless form and Chanyeol blinked at him.

“I spilled vodka on myself,” he told Junmyeon. Junmyeon nodded excitedly in response, still staring at Chanyeol’s chest.

“Do you feel better?” Jaehwan asked Junmyeon, and Junmyeon nodded stiffly, moving to sit down on one of the barstools.

“Yeah, I do, thanks.”

“Do I have to clean up the bathroom?” Jongdae asked with a laugh as he finally unstuck his mop. He dropped it back to the floor to continue cleaning and Junmyeon pouted at him.

“No, I didn’t make a mess, I promise. I didn’t throw up or anything.”

Jongdae sent a smile Junmyeon’s direction so he would know Jongdae wasn’t upset with him. “Ahh, I know you wouldn’t make a mess.”

Jongdae watched Jaehwan pull up a barstool next to Junmyeon’s to sit by him, and then focused on cleaning up the bar so his friends could get back to work. When he was done mopping the floor he put the mop back into the bucket and Chanyeol immediately dashed behind the bar, as if he was trying to hide himself. Jongdae tossed his head back as he laughed at him.

“You’re too tall to hide behind the bar,” he told him.

Chanyeol made a strangled sound. “I’m not trying to hide. I’m fine being shirtless. I’m just cold!”

Jongdae laughed again, watching Chanyeol run around the bar looking for something. Jongdae observed Jaehwan patting Junmyeon’s back quietly and Jongdae stepped up to them from behind the bar, feeling like he was in a position of authority because of it. “Are you alright, Junmyeon? You look kind of sick.”

Junmyeon glanced up at him with big eyes for a moment before looking away again. “I’m fine,” he said softly.

“You look flushed. Like you’re gonna be sick.”

“He’s fine,” Jaehwan repeated.

“I’m just sad,” Junmyeon said. “It, it makes my face all weird. When I’ve-- when I’ve been crying.” Jongdae frowned at him.

“Why have you been crying?” He mumbled, curious but not sure if he was crossing boundaries or not. Junmyeon kept staring down at the counter.

“Jongin broke up with me,” he said after a moment, and Jongdae felt a part of his heart die. Damnit, he had manufactured that relationship. He was really hoping for them to get married or something so he could feel proud of himself.

“Are you serious? Ahh, Junmyeon, I’m so sorry,” Jongdae told him. He hesitated before lifting his hand and placing it on Junmyeon’s on the counter for a moment. Junmyeon smiled at the touch and glanced up at him.

“Thanks,” he said. Chanyeol slipped over and placed a shot glass full of amber liquid in front of him, and Junmyeon blinked at it before smiling up at him. “Thank you, Chanyeol.”

“You guys were so cute together,” Jongdae told Junmyeon as he watched Junmyeon take the shot. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”

“He left me for someone better-looking,” Junmyeon spat, and Jongdae’s brow furrowed.

“That doesn’t sound like Jongin,” Jongdae said immediately, out of impulse, and then felt bad because that probably wasn’t the ideal thing to say to someone who just went through a breakup. Junmyeon just raised his eyebrows and looked at Jongdae, and Jongdae pursed his lips. “I mean, I wasn’t expecting you to say that, is all.”

“Well he did,” Junmyeon said shortly, rolling his shot glass on the counter until Chanyeol came over and took it from him with a smile.

“I’m really sorry. That’s really shitty that he did that.”

“It’s...whatever.” Junmyeon lifted a hand and rubbed at his temple, and Jongdae thought the way Jaehwan was so intently rubbing his back was humorous. “He was too good for me anyway.”

“Yaah, don’t be so hard on yourself.” Jongdae swatted a hand in the air in front of Junmyeon. “Doesn’t sound like he was good enough for you, if he’s going around with other guys.”

“Mm, I dunno.”

“He cheated on you?”

Junmyeon glanced up at Jongdae, his lips pursed awkwardly as if he was trying not to burst into laughter or tears. “Yeah.”

“ _Jongin_ ,” Jongdae scowled. He thought Jongin was better than that but apparently not. Jongdae only really knew Jongin from work, but liked him a lot from what he had seen. This was unfortunate. He kind of wanted to talk to him about it.

Chanyeol returned with another shot and handed it off to Junmyeon, who took it as soon as it was in his hand. Chanyeol laughed out loud at him and moved the glass away. “That’s all,” Chanyeol told him. “You’ve had enough tonight.”

“Mhm,” Junmyeon replied. He looked up at Jongdae and straightened his lips into a flat line. “It’s fine, I’ll be fine,” Junmyeon said, sounding like he was mumbling to himself, and Jaehwan started to nod enthusiastically.

“See, yeah, you’ll be fine. That’s what we were saying.” Jaehwan told him, and Junmyeon smiled, looking pained.

“Thank you, Jaehwan.”

“You’re in the perfect place to shop for a new boyfriend. Seriously. Even the bartenders are hot.” Jaehwan said with a smile, and then looked up at Jongdae and motioned to him. “Even the janitor is hot! Fuck! You’ll be fine, Junmyeon!”

Jongdae snorted at the random praise, and smiled for real when he saw Junmyeon starting to grin. He felt Chanyeol poking his side repeatedly and looked over at him.

“Can you pour a Guinness real fast, thanks,” Chanyeol said, not really paying attention to Jongdae as he moved past him, and Jongdae appreciated how quickly he was able to get back to work. Jongdae glanced from side to side, not entirely sure how to start on this task he had just been saddled with, and Chanyeol looked over at him for a moment and then stopped moving.

“Fuck, I thought you were Jaehwan since you’re standing back here, sorry.” Chanyeol laughed. “I don’t mean for you to pour drinks for people.”

“No, I wanna try it!” Jongdae said, excited by the prospect. Pouring drinks sounded a lot more fun than mopping floors. Chanyeol smiled and put the glass he had been drying down, then went back over to Jongdae.

“Okay, sure. It’s not hard at all. Just take one of these glasses--” Chanyeol knelt down under the counter to pull out a beer glass and hand it it to Jongdae. Jongdae took it and Chanyeol motioned over to the tap machine. “One of them says Guinness on it. Just find that one and fill it up. Wait--” He reached over as Jongdae put the glass under the tap and pulled the plastic Guinness lever.

“Ahh, what?” Jongdae asked, and Chanyeol picked up the glass, angling it carefully.

“Do this so the foam doesn’t get everywhere,” Chanyeol told him. Jongdae nodded and held the glass appropriately, then started to fill it up again. Chanyeol smiled at him. “There, you’re good at it.”

“When do I stop?”

“When it’s almost full. That’s good,” Chanyeol told him when Jongdae filled the glass. Jongdae pulled it away and handed it to Chanyeol, and Chanyeol gave him a thumbs up. “You should work back here!”

“Ahh, that’d be nice. I’m barely twenty-one though.”

“That’s legal enough,” Chanyeol responded. Jongdae leaned against the counter and watched Chanyeol running around treating customers at the bar for a while before turning back to Junmyeon and Jaehwan. Junmyeon was sitting dejectedly with his head down on the counter, as Jongdae was used to seeing him, and Jaehwan was sitting there quietly with his hands in his lap.

Jongdae laughed at him. “You look like a child waiting for the bus.”

“We’re not too busy tonight, I don’t have to get back to work yet, do I?” Jaehwan grinned at him and Jongdae grinned back.

“I’m not really working right now either so I guess we’re good.”

“Are you and Yixing dating yet?” Jaehwan asked out of nowhere, and Jongdae almost choked on his own spit.

“What are you talking about? Of course not.”

“I thought you guys went on a date.”

“We-- we watched a movie at his place,” Jongdae lied. They most certainly did not watch a movie. They straight-up fucked the first time they ever hung out together. Whatever. “We’re not anywhere close to dating. We’re just flirting with each other.”

“Ahh, that’s fun too,” Jaehwan said. “I can’t keep up with all the gossip going around, there’s too much.” Jongdae snorted at him.

“Is there really too much gossip?”

“Well, everyone’s fucking everyone else. That sounds gossip-y enough for me.”

“Really? Who are you fucking?” Jongdae asked, looking at Jaehwan with his brow furrowed playfully, and Jaehwan just grinned at him.

“Ahh, nobody.”

“That’s the boldest lie you’ve ever told me.”

“Aaagh, Kyungsoo,” Jongdae heard Chanyeol grumble low in his throat and looked over at him. He was fumbling his hands nervously over each other and staring in the direction of the main entrance. Kyungsoo had just walked in, looking exhausted and well-dressed like he had just finished a show. Jongdae enjoyed his appearance quietly as Chanyeol glanced over to Jaehwan. “Jaehwan, Kyungsoo’s here.”

“What? Ohh, oh.” Jaehwan looked over to where Chanyeol was looking, and then glanced back to him. “Oh.” He said flatly.

“He didn’t tell me he was visiting today, did he tell you?”

“Ahh, yeah, he did.”

“Didn’t tell me,” Chanyeol mumbled, and Jaehwan shrugged.

“You weren’t at home this morning.”

“He still could’ve...texted me. Kyungsoo!” Chanyeol called out to his roommate, waving his hand a bit, and when Junmyeon shot into an upright position at the sound Chanyeol put his hand down, looking over at him with wide eyes.

“ _What_ ,” Junmyeon started, looking around, and Jaehwan put his hand back on Junmyeon’s back.

“It’s nothing,” Jaehwan said.

“Hey, Chanyeol, you’re stripping now,” Kyungsoo said matter-of-factly as he walked up to them. Chanyeol laughed weakly and shook his head.

“I spilled alcohol all over myself, so I’m shirtless for now.”

“You look good,” Kyungsoo replied with a little smile.

“Kyungsoo,” Jaehwan tried to get his attention, but Junmyeon had spun around in his chair and was motioning at Kyungsoo with a drunk hand.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Junmyeon barked at him, and Jongdae frowned at his sudden change in demeanor.

Kyungsoo’s face had been relaxed but it tightened when he saw Junmyeon shaking his hand at him. “I came to see my friends at work.”

“You’re lucky I’m not kicking your ass right now,” Junmyeon told him. Kyungsoo snorted at him.

“I’m sure you couldn’t.”

“Don’t fuck with me, Kyungsoo,” Junmyeon said, jumping up on wobbly feet, and Jaehwan reached out and pulled him back into his seat.

“Hey, calm down,” Jaehwan told him.

“I will not,” Junmyeon replied, squirming a little to keep Jaehwan from touching him. He turned his stare back to Kyungsoo and scowled at him. “You have some nerve showing your face in front of me.”

“How was I supposed to know you’d be here?”

“I spend a lot of time here with my friends, you’ve seen me.”

“I’m here to see my friends too. This building’s big enough for both of us,” Kyungsoo turned the side of his mouth up in a little snarl and Junmyeon scowled at it.

“What, did you come here to see my boyfriend?”

“ _My_ boyfriend,” Kyungsoo said casually.

Junmyeon rose to his feet again and Jaehwan motioned limply at him to get him to stop, but Junmyeon didn’t notice. “I should kill you.”

“You’re drunk,” Kyungsoo replied.

“Yeah, and that won’t even hinder me.” Junmyeon put both hands on Kyungsoo’s chest and pushed him back, and Kyungsoo stumbled, his eyebrows arching even farther down.

“Touch me again and they’ll be using those pretty white teeth of yours to identify your body at the morgue,” Kyungsoo growled.

“Guys, cut it out,” Chanyeol piped up, and Kyungsoo glanced over at him, his face softening a bit. He stepped away from Junmyeon and rolled his eyes.

“Let’s just put this behind us, alright?” Kyungsoo asked, bravely holding out his hand for Junmyeon to shake, and Junmyeon knocked his hand away.

“I’m mad at you,” Junmyeon said plainly.

“That sucks,” Kyungsoo replied.

“You should feel like a douchebag for seducing a twenty-year-old away from someone.”

“And yet I don’t,” Kyungsoo said airily, raising an eyebrow at Junmyeon, and Junmyeon frowned and clenched his fist.

“You cocky motherfucker.”

“Look, I don’t have a problem with you, so you should back off before you get hurt,” Kyungsoo warned Junmyeon.

Junmyeon laughed at him. “I could knock you on your ass in one hit.”

“Fucking try it,” Kyungsoo said sternly, standing as tall as he could and glaring right back at Junmyeon, and Jongdae was jealous of his confidence. Kyungsoo looked to be around his height, why couldn’t he be as confident with himself as Kyungsoo was. Junmyeon pulled his fist back and nailed Kyungsoo right in the jaw, and Kyungsoo didn’t look so tall anymore as he collapsed to the ground.

“ _Junmyeon_ ,” Chanyeol called to him angrily, right as Jaehwan called Kyungsoo’s name. Jaehwan bolted over and knelt down by Kyungsoo, trying to take his hand and pull him back up.

“Kyungsoo, are you alright?” Jaehwan asked, and Kyungsoo sat up, shaking his hands at Jaehwan to get him to move away.

“I’m fucking fine,” Kyungsoo said gruffly, blinking slowly a few times. Jongdae didn’t think he looked okay, he thought Kyungsoo looked positively frazzled, but Kyungsoo’s bravado seemed to not want to quit.

Jaehwan stood up and tried to take Kyungsoo with him, but Kyungsoo sat on the floor looking confused for a moment before stumbling up to his feet. When he rose again Junmyeon took another step towards him, but Jaehwan slipped in between them and pushed Junmyeon away gently. “Junmyeon, seriously, just stop it. You’re already in trouble.”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Well I’m mad at you,” Jaehwan said, scowling, and it softened Junmyeon’s face a bit. “And I’m betting that if security saw that you’re gonna be escorted out any minute now.”

“What? But--” Junmyeon turned to the bar to find Chanyeol’s eyes and frowned deeper when he saw how Chanyeol was glaring at him. He looked over at Jongdae for a moment and Jongdae tried to smile at him very weakly, still kind of overwhelmed from what had just happened. Junmyeon looked back at Jaehwan. “You guys know me. I’m just, I’m just--”

“I could press charges,” Kyungsoo said, carefully touching his jaw where he had been hit, and Junmyeon whimpered.

“You wouldn’t. You deserved that.”

“I don’t agree.”

“Jaehwan, please don’t be mad at me--” Junmyeon started to plead, but was cut off when Kris came up behind him and grabbed his shoulder. “Ahh, oh my god!”

“Hey, you. You’ve been fucking around. Go home.” Kris said, spinning Junmyeon around so that he was facing him. Junmyeon looked up at him with shaky eyes.

“Are you kicking me out?”

“Of course I am, I just watched you punch someone in my club. Get out,” Kris said strictly, and Junmyeon frowned.

“I didn’t mean to-- I just, uhm.”

“You’ll be back tomorrow, I guess. I don’t care. Just leave now while I still get mad looking at you.” Kris pushed him back and Junmyeon went to pick his coat up from the barstool.

“Fine, fine. Ahh. Fuck.” Junmyeon threw his coat on while Jaehwan waved a hand in front of Kyungsoo’s face. Kyungsoo snorted at him and swatted it away.

“I’ll see you,” Junmyeon said nervously to Chanyeol, who just responded with a glare. Junmyeon frowned and turned to Jaehwan. “Bye,” he said.

“Goodbye.” Jaehwan said coldly. Junmyeon bit his lip into his mouth and Jongdae moved out from behind the bar, unable to watch Junmyeon flail around anymore.

“I’ll walk you out, come on,” Jongdae grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the door, and Junmyeon made a soft sound of surprise. Jongdae pulled Junmyeon out the entrance and let go of him when they were out on the street.

“Jongdae,” Junmyeon said when Jongdae let go of him, and Jongdae pouted at him.

“Why would you do that? Why would you do that, Junmyeon? You can’t just go around punching people!”

“He...he ruined my relationship,” Junmyeon whimpered, and Jongdae pursed his lips.

“I gathered as much.” Jongdae was still kind of overwhelmed from the sudden dramatic turn his life had just taken, but was going to try to deal with it. Junmyeon was awkward and harmless enough and Kyungsoo was an actor for a living, he probably attracted this kind of action. “That still doesn’t mean you can punch him. That’s super illegal. Assault and all that.”

“He won’t-- he won’t press charges, will he?” Junmyeon asked with wide eyes.

Jongdae shrugged. “I don’t know.” He couldn’t imagine Kyungsoo would, but he had been learning not to make assumptions about people today.

Junmyeon cursed under his breath and kicked at the ground. Jongdae sighed and looked to the street. “Should we get you a cab?”

“I can get one,” Junmyeon said. Jongdae watched him standing sadly, hugging his coat around his body, and felt bad, even though the madness that had just happened was mostly his fault. Junmyeon looked small and scared, like he needed to be held. Jongdae wasn’t going to give him that, though.

“You knocked him down in one move,” Jongdae said with a little laugh, trying to show some degree of admiration. He hadn’t liked watching his friend get punched but it was also kind of surreal, like he had been watching the filming of an action movie.

“I take boxing classes,” Junmyeon said in a strangled voice as if he was trying not to cry, and the absurdity of it all made Jongdae laugh. Every new thing Jongdae learned about this guy was more unbelievable than the last.

“I wouldn’t believe you but I just watched you floor a guy with one punch, so.” Jongdae said, trying to sound playful, but Junmyeon just stood there staring wide-eyed at the street. Jongdae stepped closer to him and put a cautious hand on Junmyeon’s arm. “Hey. It’ll probably be fine, alright?”

“You can’t just say that...” Junmyeon said softly.

“I can-- I can talk to Kris or something. I don’t know what’ll happen with Kyungsoo but I can talk to Kris and he won’t ban you or anything.”

“I’m not worried about that,” Junmyeon said, looking up at Jongdae. He stared with wide eyes for a moment and then frowned. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, fuck. That sobered me up.”

“Are you okay?” Jongdae asked.

“No, I’m drunk. Fuck! Why did Chanyeol give me those shots, he knows I was drinking before...” Junmyeon hung his head and gritted his teeth, looking down at the sidewalk. Jongdae frowned at him but didn’t know how to comfort him.

“You’ll feel better once you get home and sober up s’more.”

“I guess you’re right. That usually happens.”

Jongdae smiled a little at Junmyeon’s acceptance of his future, and then stepped closer to the street. “Let’s get you a cab, you can’t just stand out here all night.”

“Okay...” Junmyeon mumbled under his breath, looking out at the street and shaking his hand uselessly. Jongdae laughed at him and playfully swatted his side.

“You only have to wave when there are cabs around. These are all normal cars.”

“Mhm,” Junmyeon responded, not sounding interested. Jongdae sighed, feeling as if he was an overworked butler or something. After a few minutes he was able to hail a cab and motioned for Junmyeon to get in the back.

“Thank you, Jongdae,” Junmyeon said, wiping his nose on his sleeve. Jongdae smiled kindly at him.

“Drink a lot of water when you get home, okay?” Jongdae asked, holding the cab door open so he could talk to Junmyeon.

Junmyeon nodded at him. “Okay.”

“Wait, you-- give me your phone,” Jongdae told him.

“What? Why?”

“I want to put my number in it.” Jongdae felt as if he hadn’t done enough for Junmyeon, and wanted to fix it. Damnit, he always did this, invited himself into other peoples’ lives. Whatever, he liked to think he was helpful.

Junmyeon made a soft laughing sound but handed Jongdae his phone anyway. Jongdae scrambled to fill in a new contact page for himself, eyeing the cab driver carefully. When he was done he handed Junmyeon his phone back. “If you feel upset text me or something. Okay? I’ll talk to you.”

“Wh...Jongdae.” Junmyeon smiled sadly at him. “Thank you.”

“It’s no problem. I don’t like seeing you upset.”

“I’ll see you sometime,” Junmyeon told him.

“Alright, take care.”

“Bye,” Junmyeon told him, and Jongdae closed the car door. He watched the cab drive off and sighed heavily. That was kind of wild but at least it was over. He hadn’t expected to see anyone get punched tonight, but working at a strip club was always exciting in some way. He smiled to himself and moved to go back into the building.

Yixing was darting over to the main entrance when Jongdae came inside, and Jongdae laughed at him, stopping him in his tracks. “What are you doing?”

“Did I miss the fight?!” Yixing asked excitedly, and Jongdae chuckled.

“Yeah, you did.” Yixing cursed when Jongdae told him this and it made Jongdae laugh harder.

“Damn, I really wanted to see it.”

“It was kind of lame.”

“What happened? Did you see it?”

“Junmyeon punched Kyungsoo and then Kris threw him out. That was literally it.”

Yixing groaned and stomped his foot. “Awh, that’s no fun. I like it more when they really go at it.”

“That hasn’t happened in my lifetime at this job yet.” Jongdae smirked. “I’m a little bummed and also a little pleased.”

“You should be completely bummed, it’s really an event,” Yixing told him.

“You’re so fucking goofy. What are you doing?” Jongdae asked him, and Yixing shot him a smile that was so wide Jongdae felt his knees go a little bit weak.

“I went back to work, since you ridiculed me for taking a break.”

“I did no such thing!” Jongdae laughed and smacked him with a gentle hand. “Wah! Liar! You just make me want to get back to work!”  
  
“You want to get back to your laptop backstage,” Yixing joked, and Jongdae smacked him again, laughing.

“You’re a pest,” Jongdae told Yixing before he left to go to the bar. He was pleased to find that Chanyeol was still shirtless, and Jaehwan had returned to work. He walked over to his mop bucket and started to roll it away. “Sorry for just leaving this here.”

“It’s fine, it wasn’t in the way,” Chanyeol said.

“Do you want me to ask someone backstage for a shirt?” Jongdae asked him. “You’re probably the same size as like, Tao, maybe.”

Chanyeol laughed. “No, I’m fine, to be honest.”

“Good. Good for you. Maybe you’ll be a stripper someday.” Jongdae nodded at him and then saluted in his direction. “I’m gonna go backstage.”

“Okay, thanks for handling things, Jongdae.”

“No problem. Is Kyungsoo alright?”

“Yeah, he’s fine,” Jaehwan said.

“He went backstage,” Chanyeol added. Jongdae nodded at him.

“Okay.” Jongdae smiled back at them and then rolled his mop bucket through the backstage curtains. He was greeted with Kyungsoo’s back standing by Jongin’s station, and felt a little weird. He walked by him to return his bucket to the closet, and then hesitated. He should probably put new water in it, since it was full of floor vodka right now.

He glanced over to see Jongin sitting in his chair smiling up at Kyungsoo, and frowned at it. This entire thing wasn’t sitting well with him, but goddamnit he wanted to ask Kyungsoo if he was okay. He put his hand on Kyungsoo’s shoulder and Kyungsoo turned to look at him.

“Ahh, Jongdae,” Kyungsoo said.

“Hey, are you alright? That was kind of wild,” Jongdae said.

Kyungsoo chuckled at him. “Yeah, I’m fine. It just caught me off guard.”

“Alright, good.”

“What happened?” Jongin asked, looking up at Kyungsoo with big eyes, and Kyungsoo raised his eyebrows. Oops. Jongdae didn’t know Kyungsoo had been trying to keep that from him. Jongdae rolled his mop bucket away before he got involved in this conversation, and brought it to the sink in the back room by the backstage exit.

He replaced the water with a fresh supply and then rolled the bucket back to his closet. Kyungsoo and Jongin had left, and Jongdae sighed to himself. Maybe that was for the best. He was itching to talk to Jongin, even though he was painfully aware that this entire situation was none of his business. Jongin was...young. He was still figuring people out.

Jongdae couldn’t stay mad at him, Jongin was too sweet. He sighed as he plopped himself down in Tao’s chair. He couldn’t ever stay mad at anyone.  Most of the time it was a blessing but right now it felt like a curse, like he should be mad at people for good reason but couldn’t bring himself to do it. Damnit.

He waited around for Yixing to come backstage but Yixing never showed, just a string of other strippers coming back to get something and then leaving. Maybe they were busier tonight than he had thought, or maybe it was just starting to pick up. It did feel kind of late. He checked the time on his phone and sighed again. He could get some homework done, and maybe ask Yixing what he was doing later tonight. Yeah. That would take his mind off of tonight.

 

 


	11. (nsfw) jongdae gets another job and plays with yixing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol i know i just updated but here's another chapter!! i've been really into this story lately

Jongdae hadn’t thought about the song he had written on Yixing’s bathroom floor for a week, since usually when he wrote something he liked to let it sit by itself for a while before going back to it and trying to perfect it. It felt better for him to let his songs breathe than to stifle them with constant mixing. A week after Jongdae remembered he had written the song, he had completed it, and renamed it “yixing.wav” after moving it to his finished song folder. That’s what he had been calling it in his head for weeks, he might as well.

Maybe it needed a better title, he thought as he scrolled by it while sitting in Tao’s chair backstage at work. He pressed a key to change it but when the cursor started blinking at him, his mind went blank. What was he supposed to call this? It was...it was just the Yixing song. That’s all it was. When he listened to it it reminded him of Yixing’s bathroom and the way the sheets on Yixing’s bed felt on his skin.

He closed it without changing the file name and then sighed, glancing over at Hakyeon. “Hey, Hakyeon.”

“What’s up, baby?” Hakyeon asked without looking up from his phone.

“Can I play a song for you?”

“What kind of song? Sure,” Hakyeon said, looking up and smiling a little at Jongdae. Jongdae pursed his lips and turned up the volume on his laptop.

“Just a song that I wrote. I kind of like it.”

“Ahh, really? You never let me hear anything you write!” Hakyeon said, and Jongdae laughed. He was kind of apprehensive about sharing the music he made with people, because he was so afraid of being critiqued for it. He was just writing music because it was fun to him, he was scared that another person’s opinion might change his own on it. But Hakyeon wouldn’t say anything weird, he was Hakyeon, he was nice. That was his whole thing.

“I know. I’ve been trying to fix that,” Jongdae said as he pressed play on the file. It opened with the slow, twinkling guitar strings that he had added a few days ago after borrowing his friend’s instrument. Jongdae thought it tied the whole thing together.

As the song continued Hakyeon smiled and leaned his head against his shoulder, making a silly face towards Jongdae’s computer. “Ahh, Jongdae. I never imagined your music would sound like this.”

“Really?” Jongdae asked, not sure how to take this response.

“Yeah, because you’ve been listening to so much, I dunno, rock lately. This is mellow and chill. I like it a lot.”

“Well I listen to a lot of things,” Jongdae breathed, and remembered that he _had_ been listening to a lot of Fall Out Boy lately. Damnit Tao. Jongdae smiled a little. “Thank you, Hakyeon.”

“You did this all by yourself?”

Jongdae didn’t think that saying Yixing was part of the inspiration behind it would be a good answer to this question. “Yes, I did.”

Hakyeon made a sound of wonder and kept staring at Jongdae’s laptop. Jongdae enjoyed it. He sat there quietly listening to the song, and when it was over he moved back in his chair and made another sound. “Wow, Jongdae, that was really good.”

“Thank you, thank you a lot.”

“What’s it called?”

“It-- it doesn’t have a title yet. I just finished it recently.”

“Ahh, that’s cool. I like it, Jongdae! You’re good at writing music, who would’ve thought!” Hakyeon grinned at him and swatted his arm playfully.

“Hakyeon, aah, thank you. That really means a lot,” Jongdae said as he closed the file on his computer. “I still don’t know how I feel about this song.”

“Why’s that?”

Because he hadn’t written a song about a boy in like five years. “I dunno, it’s just different from my other songs. I’m still not entirely used to it yet. But the more I listen to it I’ll like it more, that usually happens with my stuff.”

“Ahh, okay. I wish you’d let me hear your other songs.”

Jongdae swallowed. “Maybe sometime later.” He smiled weakly, and glanced over at Hakyeon to see Hakyeon grinning at him.

“Sure,” he said.

“Thanks,” Jongdae said again.

“Of course!” Hakyeon was so damn supportive of him that Jongdae felt like going over to him and pulling him into a bear hug. He wasn’t going to do that, though, his position in Tao’s chair was too comfortable right now. He phone vibrated and he picked it up to see that he had a snapchat from Junmyeon.

He snorted at just the idea. Junmyeon hadn’t texted him at all in the week since Jongdae had given him his number, but he had added him on snapchat, and had been sending him weird pictures every day. Jongdae didn’t know what that meant but considered Junmyeon to be his friend so he wasn’t complaining. Junmyeon only ever sent him pictures of himself and food so it was fine.

He opened the snapchat and it was a picture taken of his laptop screen, showing a YouTube video of a corgi puppy descending a flight of stairs. Jongdae barked out a laugh at it and put his phone down. That was kind of cute.

When Jongdae looked back to his laptop his folder of completed music files was still up and he sighed at it. He had about eleven completed songs, and that was about album-length. Wow. He had been working on this folder in particular for about a year, and he hadn’t realized he had accumulated so many songs. An album! That wouldn’t work, these songs were all written randomly. They had to tell a cohesive story if he was going to make an album. He still had a lot of work to do.

 

He was still thinking about the idea of writing a full album when the girl sitting next to him in Jazz History poked his arm before class started. He glanced over at her and she immediately started telling him that her band was in grave danger and they needed his help. Jongdae stared at her for a moment that was probably longer than socially acceptable, but he was confused, he had all the right to.

“What can I do?” He asked her when she was done rambling at him.

“You sing, right?” She asked him, and Jongdae laughed airily. He hadn’t performed at school before but apparently his late-night crooning alone in his dorm room had traveled throughout the campus.

“Yeah, I do.”

“Can you perform with us at a show next Friday? Our lead singer broke his goddamn foot and he’s in the hospital right now. We can’t cancel though, it took us forever to get this gig.” She sucked her lower lip into her mouth, looking tense, and Jongdae frowned at her. He felt really bad, but he hadn’t played with a band since a talent show in middle school.

“Uhm...I don’t want to say no,” Jongdae said, and he laughed at how the girl vibrated in delight. “Do we have enough time to rehearse together?”

“I think so, we have a couple days. We work hard. It’s all up to you, you can come to whatever rehearsal you want to.”

Jongdae agreed to this, even though his nerves were telling him this was a wild idea. He hadn’t actually performed in front of a crowd in years, and even though he liked it a lot, he was very nervous. At least he wouldn’t be performing his own music, but covers of alternative rock songs, he learned later in the day as he went to his friend’s rehearsal.

He shook hands with the two male members of the band as he watched his new friend Eliza hook up her bass guitar to an amp. “We warm up with the Ramones,” she told him. “Just give us a moment to do that.”

“Alright,” Jongdae told her, going over to the wall and standing there, watching the band set up their instruments. This was kind of exhilarating. He had an electric keyboard in his room and a grand piano back at home, but other than that and the guitar his friend in his dorm had, he never played anything else. When he needed a drum track or a more complicated guitar recording for one of his songs, he asked Chanyeol for help. The idea of having friends at school who also played music was exciting.

They nearly blew out his eardrums with their warmup but Jongdae assumed he was going to have to get used to that if he was going to perform with them. When they were ready they invited him to join them, and he was a little awkward at first but got the hang of it right away. He liked having music playing behind him while he was singing, and was thankful he could just focus on his voice and not have to play the piano along with it.

The music was a little more energetic than he was used to but instead of scaring him off, it pumped him up even more. By the end of the rehearsal he was bouncing on the tips of his toes, asking them when he could sing with them again, and trying to figure out what to wear to their concert. Eliza gave him the numbers of the people in the band as Jongdae was leaving and he grinned at her.

“Thank you so much for this opportunity,” he told her.

She smiled at him as if she was amused. “Of course. You have a great voice, we might just kick our old singer out.”

Jongdae would’ve felt bad if they had done that but it also would’ve been kind of exciting. Later that night at work he was still bouncing off the walls, feeling like he was full of energy even by one in the morning. Eventually Tao asked him why he was tapping his feet against the floor so much, and the floodgates opened.

“I got asked to sing with my friend’s band at a performance,” Jongdae told him as he turned around in Jongin’s chair. He had been branching out on new sitting places whenever Tao came to work. “They’re performing at a little club. I’ve never sung with a band before, at least I haven’t in years. I’m really excited.”

“Whaa, really?” Tao sounded more excited than Jongdae was expecting him to be. “That’s really cool, Jongdae.”

“Are you serious? Are you gonna do your new song?” Hakyeon asked, his chair turned in their direction, and Jongdae bit his lip.

“No, my music’s not ready. They do covers of like, alt rock bands. They’re really cool, I don’t know why I haven’t gone to any of the shows my school puts on. I’m just gonna sing with them for a night.”

“That’s so exciting.”

“Where’s the club?” Tao asked, and Jongdae told him about the little music club downtown that Eliza had given him the address of. Apparently Tao had been there before, and for some reason that sent electricity through Jongdae’s veins. He was going to sing at a semi-legit club. This was all happening way too fast for him, he felt like he needed to lay down.

“Do you want to come?” Jongdae sent in Hakyeon’s direction, but since Tao was there he guessed he was inviting him too. That was fine, he liked Tao, and Tao liked the kind of music he would be playing.

“When is it?” Hakyeon asked.

“It’s on Friday, I think we’re supposed to start playing at nine.”

“Are you even allowed to take time off of work for that?” Hakyeon asked.

Jongdae laughed. “I already talked to Kris about it, he said it was fine.”

“Damn, Kris is so lenient. I’m actually not supposed to work on Friday,” Hakyeon gave him a toothy grin, “so I can definitely make an appearance.”

“Wow, that’s awesome! Thank you!”

“I wanna go too, I can get Kris to give me time off,” Tao said, and Hakyeon laughed at him.

“Don’t just abuse your position to get time off of work.”

“What’s the point of dating the boss if I don’t get perks, Hakyeon?” Tao asked indignantly, and Hakyeon snorted at him.

“You’re sneaky.”

“I’m smart.”

“Should I ask Yixing if he wants to go?” Jongdae asked nervously, looking in between the two of them. He didn’t think this was the kind of thing Yixing would want to go to, but he also wasn’t sure. Tao and Hakyeon had known Yixing longer than Jongdae did.

Tao shrugged at him. “If you want to.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to ask,” Hakyeon added.

“He might have work,” Tao said.

“Yeah, he probably has to work.” Jongdae sighed. Sometimes working a night job was burdensome. “I’ll...I’ll ask him anyway.” Something in his mind was telling him he was asking Yixing out on a date and he scowled at himself. It was absolutely not a date. He was asking Yixing if he wanted to watch him perform at a show. That wasn’t a date at all, that was kind of show-offy or something.

“I’ll be right back,” Jongdae said about ten minutes after the conversation had died, darting up from Jongin’s seat and leaving through the curtains. His mind was drowning in thoughts of Yixing and he needed help, and was therefore going to go to Chanyeol, because Chanyeol always helped him out. He was standing there stiffly when Jongdae walked up to the bar, and Jongdae had to snort and grin at him to get his attention, waving his hand in front of Chanyeol’s face. “Hey.”

“Hey! Jongdae,” Chanyeol said, and then his face broke into a bright grin. “What’s up?”

“Were you spacing out really hard just now?”

“I won’t admit to it. How’s your night been?”

“It’s been really good. I had a really good day today, actually, the best I’ve had in a while.”

“That’s so awesome, I’m glad.”

“I need to talk to you about something, though.” Jongdae started and Chanyeol sniffed a bit at him, scrunching his nose up a little.

“What’s that?”

“I have a relationship problem,” Jongdae said.

“What did Yixing do?” Jaehwan called out from a little ways down the bar, and Jongdae pouted in his direction as Chanyeol laughed to himself.

“I’m not dating Yixing!” He whined down to Jaehwan, and as Jaehwan grinned at the response Chanyeol’s eyes widened, looking over at Jongdae.

“Really? You’re not?”

Jongdae huffed and blinked at Chanyeol. “Of course not, I’m not dating him.”

“He made it sound like you guys were dating.”

“Wh--! Yixing!” Jongdae frowned, surprised by this. He didn’t think Yixing ever bothered to talk about him with other people, much less led people to believe that he was his boyfriend. That was kind of strange, and out of character. He’d have to talk to him about that. “I don’t know why he would be doing that. We’re definitely not dating.”

“He’ll be devastated,” Chanyeol said lightly, and Jongdae rolled his eyes.

“He’ll be fine.”

“What’s this relationship problem then?”

“It’s...” Jongdae felt silly now that he realized it was actually about Yixing. “Uhh. Maybe I introduced it incorrectly. I’m performing at a club this week and I want to know if I should ask Yixing to go.”

Chanyeol snorted, probably amused by the very slight turn in conversation. Jongdae ignored it. “Why wouldn’t you ask him?”  
  
“I dunno if he’d think it was a waste of time or something. I dunno if he likes me.”

Chanyeol furrowed his brow for a moment and then rolled his eyes. “Jongdae, of course he likes you!”

“Ahh, I don’t know that! He seems to like sleeping with me but we don’t ever do anything else!” Jongdae scowled.

“You’re being willfully stupid. He definitely likes you, Jongdae.” Chanyeol smiled a little. “And I think you like him too, since you’re thinking about him so much. So you should ask him to go.”

“Chanyeol! I am not thinking about him so much!”

“Why didn’t you ask me?” Chanyeol asked, raising his eyebrows playfully, and Jongdae sighed.

“It’s at night and I figure you’ll be here working.”

“When?”

“This Friday.”

“Ahh, you’re right. Damn your foresight.” Chanyeol smirked and Jongdae calmed down, feeling less embarrassed. This was probably going to be fine. He’d ask Yixing about coming to see him sing and...Yixing would probably have to be at work. That was fine. If Hakyeon and Tao were going, that was more than enough.

He let Chanyeol pour him a soda and stuck around for a while, but when he saw Yixing darting through the backstage curtain with no shirt on his interest strayed. He blinked over at the curtain and got up from the barstool he had been sitting on. “I’m gonna go back to work,” he told Chanyeol.

“Mhm, okay. I’ll see you,” Chanyeol waved at him, and Jongdae sent him a little smile. He returned to the backstage area just in time to see Yixing going down the hallway that led to the dressing rooms, and he scoffed at himself.

“Youuu, running away from me,” he mused out loud as he went to follow Yixing. Hakyeon glanced up at him and barked out a laugh but Jongdae tried to ignore it.

He found Yixing in his dressing room and stood awkwardly in the doorway, watching Yixing fumble through his backpack looking for something. “Hey,” he said, catching Yixing’s attention, and he managed a smile when Yixing looked up at him.

“Hey there.”

“You lost something?”

“I can’t find my mp3 player. I want to listen to something.” Jongdae watched Yixing rummage around in his bag for a while more until he found the small black device and pulled it out, putting it in his pocket. “There we go.”

“Good job.”

“What’re you up to?” Yixing asked, looking back up at him, and Jongdae stared at his collarbone for a moment before refocusing his eyes to Yixing’s face.

“I’m performing at a show this week,” Jongdae attempted. “I wanted to ask you if you wanted to come see me.”

Yixing made a soft laughing sound and grinned down at his bag as he reached in it to pull out a bottle of water. He zipped it up and patted it carefully. “Ahh, Jongdae. What show is this? When is it?”

“It’s on Friday, at night. I didn’t know if you had work.”

“I...” Yixing stood there silently for a moment, looking like he was going over something in his head. “I think I do have work. But that’s nothing I couldn’t get out of.”

Jongdae made a disparaging sound. “Ahh, don’t skip work just for-- just for a show.”

Yixing shrugged at him. “I dunno, I don’t skip work a lot. I don’t take a lot of sick days. Maybe I deserve it by now. I’ll ask Kris.”

“Mm, Yixing.” Jongdae sighed a little and Yixing smirked at him.

“What show is it?” He asked again.

“It’s, uhm, a show that my friend’s band is putting on. They have a regular lead singer but he’s not well right now and they asked me to fill in.”

“Ahh, you’re a wild card guest performer! That’s fucking crazy, I wanna see you.” Yixing put his bag down on his chair and turned to Jongdae, looking at him up and down before smiling. “What’re you doing right now?”

“Right now? I dunno, I was thinking of checking the bathrooms to make sure they’re okay.”

Yixing groaned. “That’s no fun. Come hang out with me.”

Jongdae snorted. “Where? Backstage with everyone?”

“No, in one of the private rooms.” When it left Yixing’s lips Jongdae just stood there for a moment, taking it in. Uhh. The last time he had hung out in a private room with Yixing they had sucked each other’s dicks. Well.

“Sure,” Jongdae blurted out before he could change his mind. He wasn’t crazy about getting laid at work but...maybe prolonged exposure to Yixing was warping him. Yixing grinned hugely and walked by him on his way out of the door.

“Awesome,” he said, grabbing Jongdae’s hand in his free one and closing the door behind him. He dragged Jongdae to one of the open private rooms, and let Jongdae go in first. Jongdae stepped inside and looked around, glancing at the bench and then looking to the mirror on the wall to make sure it looked clean. He stepped up to rub away a weird looking spot and heard Yixing cackling at him after he closed the door.

“What’re you doing?” Yixing asked, and Jongdae turned to watch him locking the door. Jongdae swallowed a little and then plopped down on the floor, sitting with his legs crossed.

“It looked dirty,” Jongdae said.

“You’re not working right now. I said so. Relax.”

“I am relaxed,” Jongdae said, watching Yixing go over to the bench and sit down. He observed where the leather of Yixing’s pants bunched up around his crotch and blinked. Goddamnit Yixing was still the hottest person he had ever met. It was feeling like less of a problem though, as he sat on the floor in this small room with him and tried to calm down. Yixing seemed to enjoy his company. That made it less intimidating than it could’ve been.

“Tell me about the band you’re playing with,” Yixing told him as he undid the cap on his water bottle, and Jongdae smiled a little.

“Ahh, uhm, I’ve only played with them once, and that was this afternoon. The bass player’s named Eliza, she’s in my Jazz History class. I think she’s the same major as me? I’m not sure, I’ve had classes with her before, though. She’s never talked to me before today.”

“Looks like you’re just that important.”

Jongdae laughed. “Well their lead singer can’t do their show and they really needed someone, so she asked me. I’m not doing anything that night, so why not, y’know? It sounds fun. I rehearsed with her band, they sounded really good...Michael and someone else. I can’t remember the other guy’s name. Ergh.”

“Have you sung with a band before?” Yixing asked, raising his water to drink from it. “I thought you recorded music with Chanyeol.”

“Uhm, we do that sometimes, but he’s not really a band.” Jongdae sighed. “I played at a talent show with my friends in middle school. That’s the last time I ever played with a band though. Forever ago! I hardly even remember it, it wasn’t that special.”

“So this’ll be really cool for you,” Yixing said. Jongdae smiled at the thought.

“Yeah, it will be. We’re just doing song covers but that’s still really fun.”

“I’ve never heard you sing before,” Yixing said.

Jongdae shrugged. “You’ll hear me sing if you can get off of work.”

“Ahh, I’ll do that, then. Kris is easy to convince. And if he doesn’t then I’ll just get really conveniently sick on Friday night. Y’know, the one-day bug that comes and goes but really knocks you out when it’s around. He can’t get mad at me for being sick,” Yixing nodded, and Jongdae cackled at him.

“You’re a sneaky asshole.”

Yixing raised his hands in the air defensively. “I’m not doing anything bad! I work more hours than anyone else here, you know that? I only have one day off when most everyone else has like two. I work so fucking hard, Jongdae.”

“I know you do, I watch you,” Jongdae said.

Yixing smirked. “You watch me?”

“I mean, when you’re running around backstage like an idiot, yeah.” Jongdae laughed. “I don’t really watch you guys when you dance onstage. That’s kind of awkward.”

“You think watching me stripping is awkward?” Yixing asked with a grin, and Jongdae rolled his eyes.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“What the fuck did you mean then?”

“I. Uhm.” Jongdae had to think about this for a moment. “It’s kind of weird to be in a room full of people watching you take your clothes off, I guess.”

“Ahh, you like it more when it’s one-on-one?”

“Of course.”

“I’m glad we’re doing this then,” Yixing said with a little smile, and Jongdae crossed his arms on top of his knees, smiling softly up at him.

“Chanyeol said you told him we were dating,” Jongdae informed Yixing, and Yixing barked out a breathy laugh.

“What kind of wacky bullshit? I said no such thing.”

“Yeah, I told him it didn’t sound like something you would say.”

“I always thought we were friends,” Yixing said.

Jongdae nodded. “Me too.”

“Friends with benefits, y’know. Which is really cool.”

Jongdae laughed. “I think so too.”

“I _invented_ friends with benefits. Chanyeol knows that.” Yixing rolled his eyes. “I’ve been talking about you to him but I never said you were my boyfriend, maybe he misinterpreted me.” Yixing took another sip from his water bottle and Jongdae watched the way his adam’s apple bobbed for a moment before responding.

“Why have you been talking about me?”

“Because I want to,” Yixing said plainly, and Jongdae thought that was a terrible response.

“No, for real.”

“Because I want to!” Yixing laughed. “What else do you want me to say?”

“What are you telling him?”

“Well if I wanted you to know I’d ask you to sit in on the conversations, hmm?” Yixing said in a singsong voice, raising an eyebrow at Jongdae and making him laugh. “No, it’s all just regular stuff. I told him that we’ve been hanging out and I like the way you look at me.”

“Aah, Yixing.” Jongdae felt a horde of butterflies growing in his stomach and he felt foolish because of it. Yixing smirked at him and then put the cap back on his water bottle, setting it down.

“C’mere,” Yixing told him, motioning for Jongdae to come up on the bench. Jongdae snorted for no real reason and moved to sit on the bench, and immediately Yixing put his hands on Jongdae’s neck and started to kiss him. Jongdae thought he moved fast but wasn’t going to complain about it, not when he was finally alone with him again and Yixing seemed interested.

Yixing was an enigma to him but tonight he seemed really excited to be with him, and it made Jongdae feel attractive. After a while of making out Jongdae tried to crawl into Yixing’s lap, and Yixing very carefully put a hand on Jongdae’s chest, holding him back for a moment. “Wait,” he said against Jongdae’s lips, and the breath on his skin made Jongdae’s breath hitch in his throat.

“What?” He asked as he flopped back down on the bench and watched Yixing move away from under him. Yixing put his hand on Jongdae’s thigh and spread his legs open, moving in between them, and Jongdae laughed. “Mmm, Yixing.”

“Are you gonna tell me we’re at work again?” Yixing asked, moving his hands to put on the front of Jongdae’s jeans. Jongdae grinned and squirmed a little bit. “Because I know we’re at work. That’s why we’re in a back room. So we don’t get caught.”

“If I get fired because of you, Yixing--” Jongdae inhaled sharply when Yixing pulled the zipper of his jeans down.

“You won’t get fired, baby.” Yixing started kissing at the front of Jongdae’s boxers and Jongdae felt a little lightheaded. He was a lot more comfortable doing this with Yixing this time, since he felt safe in his presence and was coming to terms with his feelings for Yixing. Yeah, whatever, he liked him. He could deal with that.

When Yixing put Jongdae’s cock in his mouth Jongdae was _positive_ that he liked him, and he was surprised at himself for how quickly he got hard. As soon as Yixing got his mouth around it his cock knew to wake the fuck up. Jongdae moaned as Yixing dragged his tongue up and down his cock, taking the whole thing into his mouth and then slowly pulling away.

Yixing gave him the best head Jongdae had ever gotten in his life and Jongdae was a little bit in love with that. This entire relationship only proved to Jongdae that he really liked older guys, which was an idea he had been toying with for years. Yixing was what, six years older than him? And a lot better in bed than anyone Jongdae had fooled around with in college. If a six-year age gap was necessary to get this kind of pleasure then sure, Jongdae would do anything.

When Yixing started to make sloppy sounds going up and down on Jongdae’s cock Jongdae choked along with him, thrusting his hips a tiny bit. Yixing moaned around his cock and the vibration made Jongdae shiver. Yixing took his cock all the way in and swirled his tongue around, and Jongdae leaned his head back and moaned, closing his eyes.

“Ahh, fuck, Yixing. Yixing, I’m gonna cum,” he told him in a strangled voice, and Yixing pulled all the way off of his dick, taking it in one hand and rubbing it up and down as Jongdae moaned.

“Where do you want to cum, baby?” Yixing asked slowly, moving his hand on Jongdae’s cock and pressing his lips to the side of it. Jongdae felt completely weak right there and ejaculated with Yixing’s mouth on the side of his cock, moaning when the cum spurted out and Yixing just caught it in his hand to keep jerking Jongdae off.

“Ahh, fuck!” Jongdae shuddered from how sensitive it felt and Yixing pulled his hand away.

“Awh, I got some on your pants, sorry,” Yixing said, looking around the room. He found a box of tissues and crawled over to it, taking one out and wiping his hand on it. “Why do we even have this in here? Ahh, we’re gross,” Yixing said, grinning.

Jongdae watched him with sleepy eyes, not feeling like he had anything worthwhile to add to this conversation. Yixing looked back at him and observed him for a sweet moment before smirking at him. “You look positively fucked out.”

“Mm, you give really good head, you know that?” Jongdae said, and Yixing chortled, standing up and putting his crotch right at Jongdae’s eye level. Jongdae could see that Yixing’s cock was struggling to break free from its leather prison and he swallowed.

“Of course I know that,” Yixing said, taking a step towards Jongdae, and Jongdae collapsed to his knees on the floor in front of him, pushing Yixing up against the wall and making him yelp out loud. “Ahh, Jongdae,” he started, as Jongdae put his face on Yixing’s crotch and started nuzzling it with his cheek. Yixing laughed out loud and put his hand on the top of Jongdae’s head. “Oh, damn, you’re so cute.”

“Can I suck your dick?” Jongdae asked, moving to yank Yixing’s zipper down, and he didn’t even know why he was asking anyway because Yixing was giving him consent as soon as the question left his mouth. He pulled Yixing’s cock out of his pants and moaned just seeing it, and moved back to take the tip into his mouth.

He was glad that he had some practice in sucking Yixing’s dick, because he was able to get to what he knew Yixing liked right away. He tried taking all of it in his throat to the best of his ability and swallowed around it, and enjoyed the breathy little sound Yixing made. When he took it further into his throat Yixing tightened his grip on Jongdae’s hair and groaned, thrusting his hips a tiny bit.

Jongdae moaned at him and swirled his tongue around Yixing’s cock, and Yixing thrusted at him a little harder. Jongdae glanced up at him quickly, giving him no expression in particular, but apparently Yixing took it as an invitation to go wild, because he started thrusting his hips against Jongdae harder.

Jongdae groaned and swallowed around Yixing’s cock, breathing through his nose. He enjoyed the depraved little sounds that kept escaping Yixing’s lips and he had half a mind to reach down and start jerking himself off just listening to them. He let Yixing fuck his throat for a little while longer until Yixing’s legs went stiff and he grunted. “Ahh, fuck, I’m close.”

Jongdae moved closer and put a hand on Yixing’s thigh, getting him to stop thrusting his hips and taking Yixing’s cock deep into his mouth. Yixing groaned and pulled on Jongdae’s hair, and Jongdae moved his head back and swirled his tongue around the tip of Yixing’s cock. He felt Yixing cum down his throat and pulled away for a moment, swallowing thickly before coughing a little and sitting back.  
  
“Uhh, god,” Yixing sounded very weak and Jongdae was damn proud of himself. Yixing slid down the wall to sit down on the floor, and then smiled at Jongdae, his cheeks looking rounder and a little bit pinker than usual. “Jongdae.”

“Was that good?”

“It’s always good. Mm, you’re so good at that,” Yixing said, reaching for Jongdae and pulling him close. He turned around so that Jongdae’s back was pressed against Yixing’s chest, and then sat there for a moment. Jongdae chuckled a little and leaned back, feeling comfortable next to him.

Yixing squirmed a little as he tried to pull his mp3 player from his pocket, and then leaned over to the stereo system a few feet away from them. He hooked up his device and then started to play some electronica, and Jongdae closed his eyes when Yixing returned to his side. “Mm.”

“That okay?” Yixing asked, and Jongdae nodded.

“You don’t have to ask to put music on with me, you can just put it on and I’ll like it,” Jongdae said.

Jongdae couldn’t see his face but he could hear the smile in Yixing’s voice. “Okay, good to know.”  
  
Jongdae leaned back against Yixing, feeling like he could fall asleep in his arms right there. It was probably almost closing time, maybe he could follow Yixing back home to his apartment...maybe. Right now he was too comfortable and sated to move anywhere. He felt Yixing humming softly against his ear and smiled.

He felt his phone vibrate and wondered who would be texting him at two in the morning, and when he pulled it out of his pocket he saw it was another snapchat from Junmyeon. He laughed out loud and held out his phone in front of him and Yixing. “Hey, look at this.”

“What’s this?” Yixing asked.

“Junmyeon sent me a snapchat.”

“Ahh, are you friends with Junmyeon?” Yixing asked as Jongdae brought up the picture. It was another picture of his laptop screen, this time showing a paused screenshot of The Office playing on Netflix. Jongdae laughed out loud at it and Yixing chuckled softly.

“I’m kinda friends with him,” Jongdae said as he put his phone down. “We get along. He sends me a lot of pictures, he sent me a picture of a dog earlier.”

“What?” Yixing croaked, and Jongdae laughed at the sound. “He sent you a dog picture? That’s my thing.”

Jongdae laughed even harder and shook his head. “You’ve only sent me one picture of a dog!”

“I’ll send more then! I want to be sending you more dogs than Junmyeon is.”

Jongdae turned so he could see the side of Yixing’s face and grinned. “Are you jealous?”

“Why would I be jealous of that bratty, drunk loser?” Yixing spat, and Jongdae frowned at him.

“Ahh, Yixing, that’s not very nice.”

Yixing huffed and pouted at Jongdae. “What? I’ve always thought he was kind of an asshole.”

Jongdae made a soft sound to disagree. “I think he’s really cute.”

“He’s good looking but he’s kind of a mess, isn’t he? I look strangely at anyone who spends a lot of time here,” Yixing said, topping it off with a sigh. “But he has been growing on me lately. It was really funny when he hit Kyungsoo.”

Jongdae rolled his eyes. At the time it had happened Jongdae had been a little too weirded out by it to really think about it, but after reflecting on it, he thought that was really shitty of Junmyeon. Junmyeon hadn’t shown his face at the club since then though, so Jongdae hadn’t had a chance to tell him. “It wasn’t really that funny.”

“Ahh, maybe it wasn’t. I wasn’t there for it, so I don’t really know. I just think that...Junmyeon hitting someone is funny. He’s like barely five feet tall and he’s always whining about something. Since when does he hit people?”

“I guess that’s true. It was really unexpected.”

“Yeah, that’s all I meant.” Yixing told him.

Jongdae smiled a little. “It’s a unique kind of comedy.”

“That it is. I don’t mind Junmyeon.”

Jongdae couldn’t think of another thing to say after that, and he was thankful when the song changed and shuffled into a Frank Ocean track that he knew. “Ahh, I like this song!” Jongdae exclaimed, and then leaned his head on Yixing’s shoulder. Yixing pressed his cheek against Jongdae’s head and Jongdae smiled.

“You’re really sweet, you know that?” Yixing said softly, and Jongdae snorted at the sudden praise.

“Nnh, no you. That’s a sweet thing to say to me.”

“Well I only say it because you...inspire me to,” Yixing said, waving his hand in the air in front of him. Jongdae laughed.

“Well I think you’re really funny. I’ve always thought you were really funny, ever since I started working here.”

“Ahh, that’s sweet.”

“Mhm.”

“Thanks. I guess I am kind of funny.”

“You are,” Jongdae said. Yixing didn’t say anything for a while and when the chorus of the song that was playing came up, Jongdae decided to sing along to it. He felt Yixing rubbing his shoulder up and down and felt comfortable, like a bowl of warm jello that was melting into the floor. When he stopped singing Yixing slapped his back and sat up a little bit.

“You have a nice voice,” Yixing told him. Jongdae laughed airily.

“Thank you, that’s so nice.”

“You sound good. I bet you’ll sound good at the concert too.”

“Mhm,” Jongdae mumbled, feeling sleepy. He turned so he could face Yixing and kissed him, feeling overwhelmed by feelings for a moment. Yixing told him he had a nice voice...Jongdae would make out with him right there on the floor. Yixing laughed against his lips and returned the kiss, and Jongdae noted the crescent moon shape his eye made before he closed his own. Yixing’s lips were soft and warm and the perfect way to end his awesome day.

He put his hands on around the back of Yixing’s head and Yixing tilted his head slightly. Jongdae moaned a little and kissed Yixing slowly, feeling like they were in perfect harmony. This was good. This was good for him. He liked Yixing and he was pretty sure Yixing liked him too. He hadn’t been in this kind of relationship for a while, but he was welcome to it, especially when it got him laid at work. He thought about how he was making out with his coworkers on the floor of a private room in a strip club and laughed softly.

Yixing snorted at the soft sound and pulled away to kiss Jongdae’s lips very gently and quickly, before returning to gnawing on his face. Jongdae would've laughed too, if he hadn’t been completely distracted by the feeling of Yixing’s tongue on his lips. No, this was fine. He was going to stay right here until he had his fill.

 

 


	12. jongdae spends money that doesn't belong to him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading and giving kudos! it really means the world to me! ;w;

Yixing and Jongdae spent the next half an hour on the floor of the private room making out, and when Kris came by and banged on the door to tell them to get out Jongdae thought he was about to lose his job. Jongdae cleaned up quickly while Yixing darted out of the room to talk to Kris, and Jongdae slinked down the opposite end of the hallway to avoid talking to them. He couldn’t tell if Kris was having a stern word with Yixing or not, but he didn’t want to stick around for it. If they got in trouble Yixing would probably tell him later.

No such words were exchanged and Jongdae was able to breathe a sigh of relief. Kris was too lenient of a boss sometimes, Jongdae thought, but he wasn’t going to complain about it. Yixing caught a cab home before Jongdae got done cleaning and Jongdae figured he wasn’t going to spend the night at Yixing’s tonight like he thought he was going to. Oh well.

The next day when he was rehearsing with Eliza’s band he tried to find out for sure what he needed to wear at the concert, and was discouraged when his only responses were a confused snarl from the drummer and Eliza telling him “just a lot of leather, I dunno”. He liked Eliza a lot but he could tell that she was very in tune with her slacker rock and roll lifestyle.

He returned to his dorm room after singing and tried to find something made of leather in his room. All he found was the leather wallet his grandmother gave him as a part of his high school graduation present. Sigh. He didn’t even use this wallet. Maybe he would start using it. His closet yielded only band tees and differently colored hoodies, and it all looked too obviously like a twenty-one year-old’s dorm room closet. He was supposed to be a rock star! This wasn’t going to work.

He glanced at the clock and read that it was almost six in the afternoon. He didn’t have to get to work for another three hours or so...he could probably get into the city and find something in the stores there. That worked. He remembered that there was an H&M not far from the little theater he had seen a show in a couple months back.

Jongdae managed to accumulate $98 in cash from his regular wallet and the wallet his grandmother had given him. He hadn’t remembered that there was money in there, but he was glad he checked now. He felt like a bad grandson for missing the acceptable thank you note delivery period. He blinked at the money, and then rummaged around for an old pair of jeans. He found a pair that looked particularly grungy, and put them out on his bed. He could wear those and look like he knew what he was doing.

He put the money in his wallet and made his way to the front of the school to catch a cab into the city. He still wasn’t used to the sun shining so brightly at this time of day, and he smiled to himself in the back of the cab, pulling out his phone and scrolling through it. Maybe he should ask Hakyeon for help, Hakyeon was always buying clothes and showing them off. When he opened his chat history with Hakyeon he got distracted looking through it, and then decided to go through his old chat histories with people from work.

Jongin’s was entirely Jongin’s phone number and then a few more innocently boring messages. Yixing’s was the pug picture and absolutely nothing else. Just opening the chat made Jongdae laugh out loud.

He opened his internet browser to look for a goofy picture of a Shiba Inu, and when he found a silly enough one he saved it and sent it Yixing’s way. He put his phone down and rested his head on the window of the cab, looking at the hordes of people walking around on the streets. Was today a big shopping day? It was just a weekday. It shouldn’t be too busy.

The cab dropped Jongdae off at the H&M Jongdae had been planning on shopping through, so Jongdae decided to check there first. It was crowded the moment he walked in, and he grunted a little bit at it. He made his way to the men’s floor and looked around at all the different shades of gray and non-offensive plaids. This was kind of fashionable for his taste - he tended to walk around in t-shirts and the same pair of jeans every day - but he was looking for something in particular.

On his way to the outerwear section he saw a graphic t-shirt with a skull on it that made him stop moving. He stared at it for a while, the empty eyesockets in the skull staring right back, and he walked up to it. This kind of looked like the skull shirt that Sanghyuk from work had, but it was a little more intricate. Jongdae bit his lip and grumbled at it. He had shirts back at home but...they were all indie band t-shirts. He couldn’t wear his flowery Kishi Bashi shirt if he was trying to be cool. This was cooler.

 _It’s a skull, Jongdae, you have the fashion taste of an eight year-old boy._ No, it was a cool art deco skull that made a statement or something. He found his size on the rack and pulled it out, looking at the price. It would be around $25 with tax, and he grunted. He probably couldn’t afford a jacket if he was buying this too. Didn’t he have money saved up in his bank account? From the fucking job he worked every day? He vaguely remembered spending a lot of money last month on iTunes and groaned to himself.

Jongdae laid the shirt out on the rack and pulled his phone out to take a picture of it and send it to Hakyeon. When he had the picture taken he scrolled through his contact list and stopped on Yixing. Yixing dressed well, didn’t he? When he actually wore clothes. Jongdae sent the picture to Yixing and asked him if he should purchase it, then put his phone back in his pocket.

He put the shirt over his arm and tried to refocus himself. If he found a jacket that was perfect but expensive he’d just put the t-shirt back, whatever. And if Yixing told him it was ugly he’d...probably buy it out of spite, to be honest. But at least he’d have something to wear. Jongdae went over to the outerwear section and filtered through the hoodies and zip-up jackets, trying not to let himself get distracted by anything pretty. He had enough hoodies already.

Jongdae was thumbing over a strange white denim jacket when he felt his phone buzz, and he pulled it out to see a text from Yixing that said nothing but “ _buy it_ ”. Jongdae huffed. It wasn’t that goddamn easy Yixing. He put his phone back in his pocket and figured he was going to end up buying this shirt now that he had approval from someone else.

He hadn’t started looking at the price tags yet, afraid that he was going to discourage himself before his search even began. This was just the first store, he had some time to figure it out. He pulled out a black jacket and looked it over, but couldn’t find one in his size, and put it back. Sometimes being so damn skinny had its disadvantages - actually, Jongdae could list a huge number of disadvantages, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on that.

He couldn’t help pulling out a cobalt blue hoodie and marveling at its beauty for a while. It was within his price range and he was really crazy about the color, but...it wasn’t hard rock. This was killing him. He wasn’t a rock star, he was just some bony child. He thought he heard someone calling his name suddenly, and he looked up, glancing from side to side. What? He was in a crowded clothing store in New York City. Not a damn person knew him here.

Apparently he was wrong because shortly after Jongdae stopped looking around someone sidled up to him and put their hand gently on his arm. Jongdae jumped a little, almost dropping the hoodie, and looked to see Junmyeon standing there, looking excited. Jongdae blinked for a moment and then laughed out loud. “Ahh, Junmyeon! Were you calling for me?”

“Yeah, I called your name a couple times, but you didn’t hear me.”

“I thought I was going insane! I didn’t think I’d see anyone I knew here, hah.” Jongdae smiled at him and looked Junmyeon up and down. He looked more put-together than usual, in a long black peacoat with a pressed gray dress shirt underneath it, and Jongdae could tell by the immaculate state his hair was in that Junmyeon was sober for once. At least, he was pretty sure he was sober. It was 6 in the afternoon on a weekday but Jongdae didn’t know Junmyeon’s life.

“I was thinking the same thing too. It’s weird seeing you outside of the club,” Junmyeon said, lifting a hand to scratch at his nose, and Jongdae nodded.

“You’re right. It’s weird seeing people during the day!”

Junmyeon laughed a little and watched Jongdae putting the hoodie back on the rack. “That’s true, it’s always dark out when I see you. Didn’t know if you were a nocturnal creature or not.” Jongdae glanced at Junmyeon when he said this and Junmyeon immediately glanced away, looking at the rack of clothes. Jongdae smirked to himself and thumbed by some more jackets.

“I’ve got a weird sleep schedule.”

“I’d imagine, when you have to work the hours you do.”

“But I like it a lot.”

“You’re going to school, right?” Junmyeon asked. “How are you juggling all of that?”

Jongdae shrugged. “I take a lot of short naps. I dunno, I think I’m getting enough sleep, but if I’m not, I guess I’ll collapse eventually. But if I’m going to be sleep-deprived, I think I’m at the perfect age for it. I _should_ be busy right now,” he finished with a laugh, and when he looked over at Junmyeon, Junmyeon was smiling at him.

“That’s a very peppy way of looking at it,” Junmyeon told him.

“I try to be a peppy person,” Jongdae replied. “Everyone in this city’s so damn mean all the time.”

Junmyeon laughed out loud at this, and reached his arm out to lean on the clothing rack. “What are you talking about? Where are you from, are you a country boy?”

“Ahh, no! I’m from DC! The people there aren’t that much nicer but they’re not like the people here, no way.” Jongdae grinned just from the amused look on Junmyeon’s face. “I guess you’re from here, then.”

“Yeah, I grew up in the city, but I know what you’re saying. People here could be a little more polite.”

“Yeah, yeah, I agree.” Jongdae smiled and then held out the t-shirt he was holding in front of his body, looking down at it. “Junmyeon, is this okay? Like, do you like this shirt? It’s not ugly, is it?”

Junmyeon studied it for a moment and then nodded stiffly. “Yeah, that’s cool. It looks like it might be kind of big on you, though.”

“Yeah, I want it to be a little bit big. Thank you,” Jongdae smiled at him. “Are you getting something?”

“I’m looking for a friend right now, I have a gift exchange going on right now that I need to get done.” Junmyeon smiled a little. “This store isn’t really his style though, I dunno. I’ve been walking around finding things that I like but not for him.” He laughed shortly. “I’ll probably just end up at the Armani place again for him.”

Jongdae nodded, trying not to look like just the mention of the name Armani intimidated him. He looked up and down Junmyeon’s carefully pressed outfit and took a sharp breath. Junmyeon had a lot of money, Jongdae could tell that from the way he looked and all the time he spent at the club. That was pretty cool. Jongdae couldn’t think of many other wealthy people he knew.

“Would he not like this shirt?” Jongdae asked, holding his t-shirt out for Junmyeon, and Junmyeon grinned at him.

“Well, that’s yours.”

“There were more, y’know, it’s not like if you buy this one I’ll never have a copy.”

“No, but I associate that shirt with you now,” Junmyeon said, motioning between the shirt in Jongdae’s outstretched hand and Jongdae. “Like, I’d look at my friend wearing the shirt and think, ahh, that’s the shirt Jongdae has. The Jongdae shirt.” He shook his head. “It won’t work.”

“I’ve branded it already?” Jongdae put the shirt down and pouted. “Awh, oh well.” He looked back at the rack he had been perusing and sighed. “I’m trying to find a jacket for this performance I’ll be doing but I can’t find anything.”

Junmyeon didn’t respond to this so Jongdae looked up at him to see if he was distracted, and Junmyeon was just standing there staring blankly at him. Jongdae snorted a laugh at him and before he could ask Junmyeon if he was okay, Junmyeon had started talking. “You’re doing a performance?”

“Yeah, I’m going to be singing with my friend’s band at a club.”

Junmyeon burst out laughing, and Jongdae noticed a little pink tint rise to his face as Junmyeon looked away from him. “Ahh, god, you said that, you said that and my mind went in the wrong direction. That confused me. I thought you meant like-- at work. At your work.”

Just the mental image made Jongdae cackle. “I’m not gonna perform at the club, oh my god!”

“That’s why I was confused! I didn’t think you would!”

“I’m trying to imagine myself stripping right now and it doesn’t work!” Jongdae laughed, and didn’t feel like looking at Junmyeon to see if he was salivating at the idea. “Woh, no, no. I’m just singing with my friend’s band. I have to look really cool for it, though. They play instruments and stuff but I’m standing there with a microphone, I don’t have anything to hide behind.”

“You should be able to find something,” Junmyeon said as he started thumbing through the jackets as if he knew what Jongdae was looking for. Jongdae smiled at the gesture.

“Yeah, I’m not too worried about it.” He wasn’t going to bring up his money issue, because he didn’t want to bother Junmyeon with that. He would be able to handle it himself. Besides, Junmyeon probably wouldn’t understand, if he was buying his friends Armani gifts. Jongdae moved around the rack to the other side and made short, kind of awkward eye contact with Junmyeon for a moment before Junmyeon smiled and looked down.

“I haven’t seen you at work in a while,” Jongdae said, cocking his head to the side, and Junmyeon laughed breathlessly.

“Yeah, I’ve been kind of busy.” He cleared his throat. “And I figure I wouldn’t be too popular there right now.”

Jongdae had damn near forgotten that the last time Junmyeon had been at the club, he had socked Kyungsoo in the face. That seemed like kind of an important thing to forget, but Junmyeon was so innocent-looking that it was never the first thing that came to mind. “Awwh, I don’t think that’s so true. I’m sure people have gotten over it by now.”

Junmyeon laughed painfully. “You sure?”

“I mean, no. I don’t know.”

“Are you over it?”

“Well, I had forgotten about it, but now that I brought it up, I’m still kinda miffed.” Jongdae huffed a little, just delicately enough to tell Junmyeon that he wasn’t spitting mad at him. “But I figure you’re a grown man and you’ve dealt with it.”

“Yeah, yes,” Junmyeon nodded excitedly, and Jongdae couldn’t help but laugh under his breath. “I got lunch with Kyungsoo the other day, actually.”

Jongdae scoffed out loud. “Whaaat, are you serious?”

“Yeah, I’m serious!” Junmyeon laughed a little. “I asked him out, to apologize, and he showed up. He’s being really mature about it. We both are, I guess. I’m not angry at him anymore, and he’s not angry at me. He's making me pay for all of the stage makeup he needs to cover up the bruise and then we're even.”

Jongdae leaned his head back while he laughed at this. “Ahh, that’s priceless! I’m glad you guys patched things up, at least.”

“Yes, me too, I’m really glad.”

“Y’know, I really don’t think Kris cares that you did that. Like, you can come back whenever you want.”

Junmyeon scowled, looking away. “Ahh, I don’t know. I think Chanyeol and Jaehwan are still upset with me.”

“Maybe Kyungsoo’s talked to them.”

“You’re probably right, but I don’t know. It would be awkward. I want to wait a little bit more, I really don’t want Jaehwan to be upset with me.” Junmyeon pursed his lips and looked as if he was thinking very hard on what to say next. “I kind of like him,” he breathed. “But I’m sure he doesn’t much like me anymore.”

Jongdae could feel his matchmaker heart fluttering again and he was trying to shove it back down his throat. No, this wouldn’t work, this absolutely wouldn’t work. The last time he had set Junmyeon up with someone it had worked for a little, but then backfired. Now it especially wouldn’t work, not with the history between them. Jongdae laughed a little at the thought. “I don’t think Jaehwan would all-out hate you. He was mad at you but maybe he’s gotten over it. Especially if Kyungsoo’s fine with it! I think you’re fine, Junmyeon!” He tried to reassure him, and Junmyeon kept staring at the clothing rack.

“Maybe you’re right,” Junmyeon said finally, and Jongdae nodded.

“So you should come back and try.”

Junmyeon looked up at Jongdae and grinned. “You’re really good at promoting your club.”

Jongdae laughed out loud. “Well I miss seeing you there!”

Junmyeon smiled happily but looked as if he didn’t have a response for this, and Jongdae was fine with that. He tried to return his attention to the clothing racks, but he wasn’t finding anything that was calling his name other than the blue hoodie he was positive he wouldn’t buy. Maybe this store wasn’t the right place for him.

He shopped around for a bit more, every now and then glancing up and laughing at the very careful way Junmyeon touched the clothes, looking like he was afraid of pulling something too hard and unraveling it. Jongdae went into another aisle and stopped immediately when he saw a row of leather jackets hanging there proudly, as if they were waiting for him.

He made an audible sound and went over to the leather, remembering what Eliza had told him. This was probably his best bet. He found one in his size and pulled it out, looking it over. It was jet black with shiny silver zippers adorning it, and it had bright, clean bars of silver decorating the pockets. He touched the front of it and figured it must be real leather. He held it back and looked it up and down once more. It was really nice, and fit the rock star aesthetic well enough. He needed a jacket like this anyway, maybe for going to see shows or club hopping, since he was old enough to do that now.

He brought the jacket over to Junmyeon and held it out to him. “How’s this? I like this a lot,” Jongdae said.

Junmyeon smiled as soon as he saw it, and reached out to touch the leather. He seemed to approve of it and stepped back to look at it. “This is really nice, it’s well made.”

“Mhm. I think it would look good on me, if I’m going to be singing. They’re a rock band, they’re really loud.”

“Try it on,” Junmyeon told him, and that was all Jongdae needed to throw his zip-up hoodie off and throw it at Junmyeon for him to catch. Junmyeon laughed a little as Jongdae pulled the leather jacket over his frame, and when it was on he straightened himself out, trying to stand tall.

“I feel more intimidating,” Jongdae said, and Junmyeon smiled at him, looking him up and down.

“You actually look really good in that.”

“What does _actually_ mean?” Jongdae intoned, and Junmyeon grinned.

“I mean you look like you belong in it, if you’re going to be the frontman to some loud rock band.”

“Pffft, that’s much more polite than what I thought you meant. Good save.” Jongdae took the jacket off and put it back on the hanger he had pulled it off of. “You mean it? I look good in it?”

“Yes, I wouldn’t just lie to you.”

“This really shortens my search, if I just get this one. This is the first store I even came to.” Jongdae picked up the price tag and when he saw the bold “$299” label his eyes almost rolled back into his head. Goddamnit, he should’ve seen that coming. Why did he have to let himself fall in love with it before looking at the price? “Oh, this is too expensive,” he groaned. “I can’t pay for this.”

“Is it?” Junmyeon held his hand out, opening and closing his hand to get Jongdae to hand the jacket to him. Jongdae gave him the hanger and watched Junmyeon look around the jacket.

“It’s too expensive for me. Is it this store? Do you think I’d find a better price somewhere else?”

“H&M is kind of...it’s supposed to be affordable. I don’t think you’d find anything much cheaper around here.” Junmyeon found the price tag as Jongdae groaned, and then Junmyeon pursed his lips. “I could buy this for you.”

Jongdae choked out a scoff. “What, fuck you, shut up,” he said quickly, and Junmyeon burst out laughing at him.

“That’s not very nice.”

“I don’t want you buying it for me,” Jongdae snatched the jacket out of Junmyeon’s hand. “I want to buy it myself.”

“You need it for your performance, right? When’s your performance?”

“In a couple days.”

“Well you’re not gonna be able to buy something online, are you? And all the stores around here are overpriced, it’s New York City.” Junmyeon blinked at Jongdae, his eyes looking clear, and Jongdae groaned out loud.

“Don’t do this to me!”

Junmyeon laughed. “Why not?”

“Because I’ll have to pay you back and I hate owing people money!”

“Awh, Jongdae, you don’t have to pay me back. It’s a gift,” Junmyeon told him, and Jongdae stomped his foot on the floor, feeling his resistance crumbling.

“You can’t do this! Agh! I can...” He looked at the jacket, and then registered the shirt he was still holding in his hands. If he bought the shirt like Yixing told him to, he’d have like $75 left and he was positive he didn’t have enough in his bank account to pay for the rest. Damnit. Damnit damnit damnit.

“If you _really really_ wanna do this for me,” Jongdae said, holding the jacket out to Junmyeon again, “then I would be stupid to argue with you, wouldn’t I?”

Junmyeon smiled and reached out to take the jacket, but Jongdae pulled it away from him, frowning deeply. “I want to split it with you.”

Junmyeon’s smile grew into a grin. “I can do that.”

“So you just pay for 150 of it. And I’ll do the rest.”

“Alright, that’s fine. That sounds great. And you don’t have to pay me back.”

“I only have 98 dollars with me right now,” Jongdae started. “And I’m buying this shirt too. So that means I have like 75. But I can pay the other 75 with my card, if that’s okay.”

“Alright, alright.” Junmyeon took the jacket from Jongdae. “Just let me put it on my card and you can give me your half whenever.”

Jongdae pouted as Junmyeon took the jacket from him, but couldn’t argue. He followed Junmyeon to the checkout counter and stayed close to him, as if he were afraid Junmyeon was going to make a daring escape holding his jacket hostage. “You probably have more money than I could even dream of,” Jongdae grumbled under his breath, not sure if Junmyeon would hear it or not. Apparently he did, because he laughed.

“Awh, that’s not true, I just have some extra cash this week,” Junmyeon told him.

Jongdae assumed it was because he hadn’t spent the week buying lap dances at his club. “Well, thank you. Thank you very much. This is really, really awesome of you.”

Junmyeon grinned, his cheeks rising. “No problem, Jongdae.”

Jongdae watched Junmyeon buy the jacket for him, and ogled the black credit card Junmyeon brandished when he had to pay. Wow this was really luxurious and nice. When it was Jongdae’s turn he felt somewhat foolish buying a simple t-shirt, but at least he could pay for it. After everything was packed away Jongdae scuttled off to where Junmyeon was waiting for him, and Junmyeon handed him the bag they had put the jacket in.

“Oh, thank you. Thank you again. Agh.” Jongdae still felt like kind of a loser for having his friend pay for his jacket but he assumed he’d be okay with himself eventually. Junmyeon was still smiling at him like a geek and it helped.

“Do you want to go to Fifth Avenue with me?” Junmyeon asked, and Jongdae frowned and shook his head.

“Sorry, I have to go home and get all my stuff before I go to work.” Jongdae glanced at his phone and saw that he had forty-five minutes to do all of that, and then cursed. “Awh, fuck, I’ve been here longer than I thought.”

“Alright, I’ll see you around then,” Junmyeon smiled. “You owe me $150, anyway.”

“Yes, I know, and I’ll pay you back really soon. That means you have to come back to the club, right!” Jongdae swatted Junmyeon’s arm, and Junmyeon laughed at him.

“I’ll come back, I promise.”

“You better! Because I _really_ want to pay you back!”

“And you will, I’m sure you will!”

Jongdae let his face relax into a smile. “Okay, good. I’ll see you around then. Thank you, thank you so much for helping me.” He outstretched his arms and took Junmyeon into a very swift bear hug, and Junmyeon was awkwardly putting his arms around Jongdae by the time Jongdae had pulled away. “It really means a lot.”

“You’re welcome. Take care,” Junmyeon waved at him, and Jongdae smiled as he left the store to look for a cab.

He felt like he had accomplished something today, which was good, even if he had spent more money than he had wanted to. It was a necessary purchase, he was sure of it. When he got into a cab he thought to text Yixing and tell him he bought the shirt, so he did so. Should he send him a picture of the jacket? Jongdae thought he would have enough time to take a mirror selfie when he got back to his dorm, but then nixed the idea since he wanted to debut his new jacket at the performance. That would make a better impression. If he was going to be a rock star he’d have to do it right.

 

 


	13. (nsfw) jongdae performs at a show and goes to a sleepover

A few hours after he finished classes on Friday afternoon, Jongdae got a text from Yixing telling him he couldn't make it to Jongdae's concert tonight because he had to work, and it made Jongdae sit in his room staring at the wall for a silent moment. Fuck. He looked back at his phone to read over the text again, and sighed at the “pile of money with wings” emoji Yixing had tacked onto the end of it. He didn’t understand that but he was learning to just let Yixing run free with his weirdness.

His chest felt heavy now and it was a strange feeling. He looked at his desk clock and it told him it was almost 8. He should probably go find Eliza and ask her how she was getting to the club, since he told Hakyeon and Tao to be there at nine...he sighed and looked at his phone again. His entire chat history with Yixing was three pictures, “buy it”, and now this upsetting message. Damnit.

He typed a short reply to Yixing telling him it was no big deal, and once he pressed “send” he sort of felt like it was a big deal. His entire day seemed darker and the sun had only just recently set. This was shitty. Why was Yixing not coming to see his concert hurting him so much? He really wanted to show him his new jacket, but he could just do that at work tomorrow...

He got up to go to his closet and pull the leather jacket out. He put it on and looked at himself in the mirror, and then thought to himself, “I like Yixing”. Then he collapsed like a limp noodle onto his bed. That had been kicking around his brain for a while but it had yet to conceptualize in that form. Damnit. Damnit, he liked Yixing, and now Yixing wasn’t coming to see him sing. Damnit.

He opened his chat with Yixing again and bit his lip. Yixing said that a lot of people at work had called in sick and Kris needed him. Jongdae imagined that Yixing had told Kris he needed to take time off of work to see Jongdae’s concert and that was stupid, he shouldn’t have done that. Jongdae wasn’t sure if that’s actually what happened but he felt like he knew Yixing well enough that it was. So stupid! Stupid.

Jongdae got up to look at himself in the mirror again, and as he twirled around looking at his reflection he tried to smile. This was a big night for him, and even if Yixing wasn’t coming he should still be super excited. He had been pumping himself up for it all day, goddamnit. He was going to enjoy himself no matter what.

His hair looked as casual as always and he wondered if he should put it up or not. Maybe. He took the hair gel off of his desk and opened it, and laughed when it looked barely used. He was lazy so he usually just let his bangs down but tonight was a special occasion. He attempted to style his hair up with hands and laughed when it looked kind of silly, and then tried to put it down some.

It took a while but he got to the desired shape, and then put the hair gel back down. Alright, he looked more like he knew what he was doing. He was in the skull shirt and the jacket he had bought for the show, but was still in an old pair of shorts he had put on after coming back to his room after class, so he went to change into his jeans. When his outfit was complete he looked himself over in the mirror once more, and quite liked what he saw.

He was good-looking when he had some confidence in him, and the leather jacket actually looked really good on him. Junmyeon hadn’t lied. Jongdae took out his phone to take a picture of himself in the mirror, and then hovered his hands over Yixing’s name on his contact list. Nah, he shouldn’t send this to him. He felt like that would be mean or something.

He sent the picture to Junmyeon to thank him for the jacket again, and laughed at how that was the first message in their chat history. Just a fucking selfie. That was kind of goofy. He moved to go back to his bed, and got a text from Eliza as soon as he sat down.

 _“do you want to ride with us?”_ it asked, and he stood up, responding that yes, he would very much like that. He looked around for his keys and wallet and when he found them he left the room, locking up quickly. He thought it over while he was standing at his door, then went back into his room to put more deodorant on. When he was sure he was ready he left once more and went to find Eliza’s car in the parking lot.

Before he left the dorm building he got another text from Eliza, this one just a list of song titles. He glanced at it and realized she had sent him the order of the setlist for tonight.

_“this is gospel_

_when i get home you’re so dead_

_tiffany blews_

_around my head_

_hey little world_

_please don’t go”_

They were opening with the song with all the belting in it, huh. Jongdae was okay with that, it would be good to start with something so high-energy. He wasn’t afraid that his voice would crack, but he was a little afraid he’d develop some stage fright or something. He would try to fight it.

He went to the parking lot and found Eliza easily, since she was the only person around with dyed gray hair. He went up to them and she hugged him and told him he looked good, and Jongdae had a little bit more confidence in himself. He felt vaguely silly as he piled into the back of her car, and then his phone went off again.

“Sorry,” he apologized for his screaming goat ringtone and put his phone on vibrate. He looked at the text he had just received from Junmyeon - _“You look so good”_ ended with the heart eyes emoji. He didn’t really know how to respond to that and then remembered that he hadn’t even asked Junmyeon if he wanted to come to the show. He did so, hoping that it wasn’t too late to ask.

They started to drive into the city and Jongdae wondered why he didn’t do this often. Driving with friends was much cheaper than getting cabs every day, but he didn’t have a lot of friends at school. Maybe now he did, he thought as he looked at the band’s drummer sitting next to him on his phone. Maybe he should learn this guy’s name, that might help.

Junmyeon responded and Jongdae stared at the text for a while. _“That sounds really fun but I’m out with my brother and some friends right now. Maybe next time!”_ Jongdae felt as if he was texting his dad. And everyone was turning him down today, damnit. At least Hakyeon and Tao would be there.

Unless they didn’t show up and abandoned him there, Jongdae thought as he looked out the window of the car. Now that was just shitty thinking. He wouldn’t let that get him down. They arrived at the club and parked behind it twenty minutes before their show time, and Jongdae laughed as he watched his friends scramble to take their instruments out of the trunk. Jongdae stood around trying to look casual, and decided to text Hakyeon telling him he had just arrived.

Hakyeon replied shortly with the information that he and Tao had been there for a while, and Jongdae felt silly for getting there late. He hustled behind the band as they pulled their things in through the door labeled “do not enter” in the back, and then followed them around as they set up. After a while Eliza asked Jongdae to test the microphone, and he made some sounds into it as she laughed at him. Apparently they got a thumbs up from the sound guy because Eliza pulled the microphone away from Jongdae’s face, and Jongdae asked her if he could go find his friends really fast.

“Sure, but be back soon,” she told him, and Jongdae nodded, jumping down from the little stage and turning around to look at it from the audience. It wasn’t huge - it was just a little dimly lit club, he wasn’t expecting anything massive, so he was okay with that. It felt more intimate and cool this way.

He wandered over to the bar area and was able to find Tao because he was the only person standing there looking like he was posing for a magazine. Jongdae burst out laughing when he saw him and went up to smack his arm. Tao jumped a little as if he was surprised, and then straightened his leather jacket with the hand he wasn’t holding his drink in.

“We match!” Jongdae told him, proud of his own leather, and Tao grinned at him.

“You look good.”

“Thank you! I’m really glad you came!”

“Yeah, I like this place a lot. You’re going on soon, right?”

“Yeah, we got here kinda late,” Jongdae breathed.

Tao nodded at him. “Good luck.”

“Thank you, thank you so much. I’m so excited I feel like I’m going to pass out.” Jongdae laughed. “That would be bad. I don’t want to do that. I want to actually sing.”

“If you pass out then at least you’ll put on a show,” Tao said, and then motioned at Hakyeon when he walked up to him. “Hakyeon, Jongdae’s finally here.”

“Ah!” Hakyeon beamed at him and brought Jongdae into a tight hug, and Jongdae laughed airily in his ear when he pulled him close. Hakyeon then pushed Jongdae back and looked him up and down with his hands still on Jongdae’s shoulders. “You look so official! Like you were born to sing here. I’m so happy.”

“Oh my god, thank you so much!” Jongdae laughed again. “You guys look good too.”

“We always look good,” Tao said.

“That’s our job,” Hakyeon added.

Jongdae laughed at them. “We’re gonna perform in like, twenty minutes, I think. I probably have to disappear soon.”

“Then you’ll be on the stage!” Hakyeon motioned at it. “Did you drink enough water today? Do you feel well?”

“Ahh, I do! I drank a lot of water today, I’m good.” Jongdae laughed at him and brought a hand to touch his forehead, feeling strange with his bangs off of it. “Ahh, you sound like my mom, Hakyeon, god. You and Junmyeon feel like my parents.”

Hakyeon made a kind of disgusted face that made Jongdae burst out laughing, and Tao smiled at them. “I don’t think you’re old enough.”

“Did you order my vodka cranberry?” Hakyeon asked him, and Tao’s eyes widened.

“Shit, I forgot.”

“Damnit, Tao.” Hakyeon swatted his arm playfully as Tao grinned at him. “Whatever, I’ll do it myself.” He went up to the bar and tried to motion at the bartender, and Jongdae smiled at Tao.

“Thank you for coming, really, it means a lot to me.”

“Of course, Jongdae. You say that as if you expected us not to show up.”

“Well, I didn’t know.” Jongdae huffed a little. “I’ve been asking more people but they’re all turning me down.”

“They’re not worth it,” Tao said with a smirk, and Jongdae didn’t agree with that. He laughed anyway.

“I’m glad to have you guys here anyway. You two are my favorites.” Jongdae felt his pocket buzz and he checked to find a text from Eliza telling him to come back. He smiled at Tao and tried to rouse Hakyeon’s attention again. “I have to go back.”

“Are you going on?” Tao asked, and Jongdae nodded. “Ahh, cool. We’ll go over there then.”

“Break your legs!” Hakyeon told him, going over to hug him once more, and Jongdae grinned.

“I will! I’ll try my best! The stage is small so maybe I’ll hit them on something.” Jongdae nodded and smiled at them again, and then tried to find the backstage area from memory. Eventually he found his band again and smiled breathlessly at them.

“We have five minutes,” Eliza told him, and Jongdae nodded.

“I really need to pee,” he told her for no reason.

“Then go pee, we’re gonna be on stage for like twenty minutes,” she laughed, and Jongdae wandered off to find the restroom. He finished his business and his phone vibrated once more when he was washing his hands, and when he checked it it was a snapchat from Junmyeon of an unidentified handsome Asian man. Jongdae let the Snapchat run the whole 7 seconds even though he had no idea why he was bothering to look at it, he didn’t know who this person was. Whatever, Junmyeon. Whatever.

He returned to the backstage area and the guitarist Michael slapped him on his back. “You ready?” He asked excitedly, and Jongdae made a strange noise, suddenly terrified at how soon they were going on.

“Yes! I’m so excited! Oh my god!” Jongdae bounced up and down in his spot as he watched Eliza and Michael run around fixing their amps. The drummer grabbed Jongdae’s shoulders and guided him onto the stage, and Jongdae had half a mind to ask him what his name was but then figured that would be impolite. He would just wait for someone else to say it. He stood there nervously for a while, awkward in the middle of the stage while looking out at the modest crowd.

He spotted Hakyeon and Tao off to his left and he jumped onto the tips of his toes, waving at them. He saw Hakyeon putting his hand in front of his mouth to whisper in Tao’s ear, and then use that hand to wave quickly at Jongdae when he saw him. Jongdae laughed and Eliza tapped him on the shoulder, handing him the microphone when he turned around.

“Wow, this looks expensive,” Jongdae said as he looked it over.

“Try not to drop it,” Eliza laughed. She went over to her own mic stand and adjusted it a bit to fit her height, and Jongdae followed her. “I’m gonna do all of the talking in between the songs and stuff so don’t worry about it. Don’t try to be funny.”

“I won’t bother, I’m sure I would fuck up,” Jongdae said, and Eliza laughed again.

“I’m just prettier, don’t worry about it.” She smirked and Jongdae laughed breathlessly again.

“Now that we’re onstage I feel really scared.”

“Just pretend everyone in the audience is a dog who hasn’t seen you in a while and is _really_ excited you’re here,” she told him, and that actually helped. He went back to the middle of the stage and stared out at the audience for a while, and looked over when Michael handed him a bottle of water.

“Ahh, thank you,” he said, amazed at himself for not remembering to bring water. He set it down by his mic stand and jumped in the air when he heard Eliza’s voice coming out through the speakers. He zoned out from her opening monologue for a bit, eyes scanning the crowd and noticing people gathering around. This was real, this was really happening. He was standing onstage in a leather jacket with a band behind him. Next stop Tokyo Dome.

“We’re opening with a Panic! at the Disco song but don’t groan because it’s fucking awesome,” Jongdae heard Eliza say, and then glanced over to see her placing her hands on her guitar. She glanced over at him, and Jongdae stared at her with big eyes, hearing the drummer open the song.

“Go,” she mouthed to him, and suddenly he was singing. He looked out at the audience and couldn’t see any excited dogs, and closed his eyes to focus on keeping his voice low. When the drumline picked up he felt a little more energetic, and when Eliza came in with her harmonies it felt fine. There was a short break in the song, and then he was belting, right at that perfect place in his register and feeling on fire. He kept his eyes closed, afraid that he might throw up if he opened them.

He was glad he warmed up in his room a while ago because he thought he sounded perfect. Maybe he should’ve asked Hakyeon or Tao to record some of it so he could know what he actually sounded like. Feeling the bass shake the floor got his heart racing, and when the song was nearing its end he opened his eyes for a while and tried to enjoy the crowd. They didn’t look entirely uninterested, and he was pleased.

When the song ended people started to applaud, and Jongdae breathed heavily, feeling stupid for having his eyes closed for most of what felt like the biggest moment of his year. He grinned regardless when he saw Hakyeon trying to clap with a drink in his hand, and then glanced over at Eliza for his next cue.

The next two songs went by faster than Jongdae would’ve liked, but he was living in the moment and this kind of fast-paced rock n’ roll felt like electricity to him. Eliza said they were doing that weird Cage the Elephant song he didn’t like next and he breathed heavily after taking a sip of water, hoping his voice wouldn’t crack.

The song was kind to him and he thought he sounded fine. It wasn’t his favorite song at all but it was weird enough to get the crowd moving, and Jongdae laughed when he was sure he heard Tao yelling when it was over. When it ended Michael went straight into the fifth song and Jongdae raised his eyebrows, glancing over at his mic stand. Bring it on.

He was positive he was on fire during this song but he didn’t care because that’s what he wanted to feel like. He was moving more around the stage and he was proud of himself, and he really liked the way his voice sounded with Eliza’s. This was good, this was a good sound system and a good venue and holy shit this was good. He needed a band, he thought to himself when the song ended. Maybe he could get Chanyeol on board.

The last song was a little bit slower than the rest and Jongdae was happy for that, even though his arms were shaking from all the adrenaline pumping through them. He liked this song for the gentle way it started and then the rising explosion into the chorus, and he could feel his body doing some weird floaty movement when it got to that point. Maybe he was levitating, he couldn’t tell. He had his eyes closed for some of the second verse, but he opened his eyes again, trying not to do that. He went over to his mic stand and leaned his arm on it as coolly as possible, trying to collect himself.

It was over in the fastest twenty minutes of his life and as Jongdae listened to the crowd applauding, he felt right at home. He stood there for a while, looking out at the audience and breathing slowly, and then Michael tapped his arm and told him the next band had to set up. Jongdae said “thank you” into his microphone but it had already been turned off, and then scurried after Eliza to get offstage.

He laughed when the drummer pulled him into a huge bear hug with the entire band, and once more he felt right at home. He heard Michael and the drummer talking excitedly to one another and zoned out for a moment, feeling like he had to go into a corner and collect himself. Eliza pulled on his arm though, and he grinned hugely at her.

“You sounded awesome!” She told him.

“So did you! Oh my god!” Jongdae said excitedly, bouncing on his toes.

“Did you have fun?”

“I had so much fun, I...oh my god,” he kept repeating himself but he didn’t care. “Ahh, oh my god.”

Eliza laughed at him and brought him back to the group, and while they stood around talking about how great they felt Jongdae thought he was going to explode. This was crazy cool and he wanted to go hug Hakyeon right now. He learned from the conversation that the drummer’s name was Stefan and he vowed not to forget it, and when Michael wandered off to the bathroom Jongdae thought it would be okay to go find his friends.

“Don’t go far, we should stay and watch the other bands,” Eliza told him, and Jongdae nodded before going to find Hakyeon and Tao. He returned to the bar where he had seen them first and he caught Tao attempting to order another drink, and then Hakyeon jumped on him.

“My sweet child, you are a rock star,” Jongdae made out as Hakyeon swung him back and forth, and Jongdae allowed himself to laugh as loudly as he wanted. Hakyeon sang his praises for a while more and Jongdae didn’t stop him, and once Tao had gotten his drink he smirked at Jongdae and told him Jongdae was one of the coolest people he knew. Jongdae’s brain was breaking from all the attention.

The next couple of hours went by like a blur, with Jongdae standing with his friends in the audience watching the parade of other bands perform and then being roused to go clubbing with them afterwards. Tao seemed to want to tag along with his band but Hakyeon went home early, and Jongdae was sad to see him go. It was midnight when Michael encouraged everyone to go into a bar on the street they saw, but Stefan didn’t have a fake ID so they couldn’t. Jongdae didn’t really feel like getting drunk tonight anyway, he already felt completely loopy from all the adrenaline.

Tao got a phone call in the middle of a heated conversation with Eliza about the new All Time Low album and had to stand off to the side for a bit while on the phone, and when he was done he went up to Jongdae and told him he had to go. Jongdae hugged him and thanked him for coming, and as he watched Tao fuss around for a cab Eliza pulled on his arm, ready to take him somewhere else.

Their night of hopping around the city ended in a brightly-lit pizza place, and as he watched Michael throw back beers his fingers danced on the sides of his phone. He liked his new friends a lot, especially after hanging out with them all night, but he was now struck with the sudden desire to hang out with his old friends from high school. That positively couldn’t happen, since he was in New York and they were scattered all over the country, but whatever. Maybe he would text the group chat tonight or something. He missed them.

He stuffed himself with pizza and groaned at the thought of going to another restaurant when Michael suggested it. He checked his phone and it told him it was just after 2am, and he was surprised. The entire night had gone by so quickly, but he still felt high from the performance. It was a feeling he could get used to. Michael seemed adamant on going to another restaurant, and Jongdae told them he was done for the night.

Eliza hugged him once more before getting into the driver’s seat of her car, and Jongdae watched them drive off, sticking his hands into the pockets of his jacket. Maybe Junmyeon was awake. He took out his phone and when he saw the “2:14am” in big letters he laughed, Junmyeon was probably busy by now.

He was sure that the club was closing though, and he opened his chat with Yixing. Wow he could really go see Yixing right now, that sounded really exciting. He could brag about his night and watch the familiar way the sides of Yixing’s mouth perked up in a smile, and then maybe even get laid. That would be the absolute cherry on top so he sent Yixing a text asking him what he was up to.

Jongdae walked down the street looking at the mass of neon lights, and after a few blocks he got a response from Yixing telling him he was going home. Jongdae opened the chat to ask him if he could come over, and then put his phone down. He remembered where Yixing’s place was, right? Right? Fuck. Maybe he didn’t. But if he dropped in on him that would be really fun. Maybe he would do that. He remembered the name of the street but he wasn’t totally sure of the number, but maybe that wouldn’t matter.

He hailed a cab and told the driver to take him to where he was pretty sure Yixing lived, and had just barely enough cash on him to pay the driver. When he got out of the car it was a half an hour later and he was impressed with himself for remembering Yixing’s exact address. He was sharper than he thought he was. He let himself into Yixing’s apartment building and was even more proud of himself for remembering Yixing’s room number.

He went up to Yixing’s room and paused when he was in front of the door. Fuck, he hadn’t checked his reflection in a while. There was a good chance he looked sweaty and gross. He took his phone out and looked at himself in the camera reflection, and fixed his hair to the best of his ability. Alright, he looked fine. Whatever.

Jongdae rapped his knuckles quickly on the door and waited for a while, and right when he was about to knock again the door opened. Yixing was wearing nothing but a pair of pajama pants and Jongdae was immediately hit with the smell of burning incense trying to cover up weed smoke, and he laughed.

“Jongdae, what the fuck?” Yixing laughed out loud and stepped aside. “Come in, I wasn’t expecting you.”

“I thought I would surprise you!” Jongdae bounced inside, looking around quickly. He listened to Yixing locking the door and stood by the couch, feeling too animated to sit down and relax. Yixing smirked at him as he passed him and went to plop down on the couch.

“You surprised me. I figured you were trying to party and didn’t want to be in my gross little apartment.”

“It’s not gross,” Jongdae said, moving to sit down after Yixing did. “And I’m trying to party, I guess, I feel really, really alive right now and I dunno, I just want to be here.” He ended with a smile and Yixing stared at him for a moment before smiling himself.

“That’s the shirt you sent me a picture of,” he said.

“Yeah, I bought it!”

“You look really hot,” Yixing told him plainly.

Jongdae laughed out loud. “Oh my god, thank you! I tried to make myself look like a rock star, I dunno, I think I still look like a college kid.”

“Nah, you definitely look like you’re in a band,” Yixing said as he got up to cross the room. “Like you scream along to heavy metal and then bite the head off of a bat at the end or something.” He picked up a shirt from a chair on the other side of the room and started to pull it over his head, and Jongdae laughed.

“Why’re you doing that?”

Yixing stopped moving and glanced back at him. “Well I have company, I should probably be decent.”

Jongdae just snorted at him, not feeling like fighting it, but apparently that was enough to sway him because Yixing dropped the shirt back to the chair and returned to the couch. “What happened at your show? Was it awesome? I’m still sorry I couldn’t go,” he frowned, “Kris caught me lying and I had to fill in for sick kids.”

Jongdae felt brilliant for calling it, but now was not the time. “You’re right, it was awesome, it was so awesome. You’re kind of a loser for missing it.” He laughed at how Yixing smirked at him. “I’m just kidding, you’re not. But it was so much fun. Honestly it went by so much faster than I thought it would, maybe because we got there cutting it really close, I dunno. But when we were onstage it was awesome, I haven’t been on a stage in years.”

“Did you get someone to take video?”

“No, I didn’t. I should’ve asked Hakyeon to do that.”

“Fucking Hakyeon,” Yixing said for no particular reason.

“I had my eyes closed for like, the entirety of the first song, isn’t that so fucking stupid? I’m so mad at myself. I got over it for the others, though. We did six songs. It was like twenty minutes onstage, it was really wild. I sang so much.”

“Sing something for me,” Yixing told him, and Jongdae blinked.

“Ah, what?”

“Sing something! Since I missed the show.” Yixing raised a foot and prodded Jongdae’s leg with it. “Do it, I’m sad I didn’t get to see you sing, but I can get it now.”

“Ahh, I don’t have the band with me, though.”

“Acoustic session,” Yixing said, and Jongdae laughed breathlessly through a smile. He rose to his feet, scuttling around awkwardly for a moment before finding a comfortable spot standing a little ways away from the couch.

“Okay. What do you want me to sing?”

“I dunno, sing me something from the show. Whatever you want,” Yixing said, and Jongdae blinked. This Is Gospel was his favorite but it was way too loud for 2am.

“I’m not going to wake up your neighbors, am I?” Jongdae asked, and Yixing shook his head.

“Nah, man, it’s Friday, they don’t care.”

Jongdae sighed and thought maybe he should be quiet anyway. The last song they did was pretty tame, wasn’t it? Please Don’t Go. It was calm enough. He took a deep breath and started to sing, feeling a little awkward doing it without any instrumental, but that was what Yixing asked for. He sang through thirty seconds of it and then stopped, looking at Yixing expectantly.

“Is that it? Boo,” Yixing groaned, and Jongdae burst out laughing at him.

“Fine!” Jongdae replied to Yixing’s laugh and lazy smile, and then continued where he left off. He sang through the whole song, trying to keep as quiet as he could within reason, and when he finished Yixing applauded him.

“You sing well,” he told him.

“Ahh, thank you, Yixing.”

“Like really well. Like I wish you could sing me awake every day,” he said as he moved his legs back to let Jongdae sit down. Jongdae laughed and shook his head.

“My voice is too loud to be an alarm.”

“It is not. You could sound sweet as honey if you really fuckin’ wanted to.”

Jongdae stared at Yixing for a moment, and then jumped into his lap, taking him into a heated kiss. Yixing was apparently right at that point too because he responded eagerly, and Jongdae climbed on top of him. They made out until Jongdae couldn’t feel where his mouth ended and Yixing’s began, and the feeling was intoxicating. He was content to just lay there being a continuation of Yixing’s body for a while but Yixing appeared to have other plans as he snaked a hand down into Jongdae’s pants.

Jongdae whimpered and Yixing put his other hand on the back of Jongdae’s neck, guiding him along. Jongdae moaned against his lips and kept kissing him, breathing hotly when he felt Yixing’s hand on his dick. Yes this is _exactly_ what he wanted.

Yixing pulled him erect and then pushed him back onto the couch, a smirk on his face and a glint in his eye as he got in between Jongdae’s legs. Jongdae let his head lean back on the couch and moaned when Yixing pulled his pants down and put the tip of his cock in his mouth. Now he really felt like a goddamn rock star. Yixing sucked his dick for what Jongdae felt was a long, exhilarating hour and when he came Yixing didn’t pull away. He panted up at the ceiling as Yixing pulled away from him with a smirk.

“Like that, songbird?” He said airily, and Jongdae choked out a laugh.

“You’re so good at that.”

“Mhm, I know.” Yixing nestled himself half on top of Jongdae and half on the couch, and Jongdae adjusted his position a little bit, letting Yixing lay down next to him. He laid there, feeling tired and energized all at once. Yixing played with the front of his jacket and dropped the zipper down. “I like this a lot, this is a good jacket. It’s a lot cooler than mine.”

“Ahh, really? I like yours,” Jongdae said, even though he had forgotten until just now that Yixing had a leather jacket.

“Thanks. No, this one has all these zippers on it.”

“I like it a lot too,” Jongdae said, and then laughed. “It was so expensive, oh my god, I should’ve known that when I went into the city. I had to split the cost with Junmyeon, I couldn’t pay for all of it.”

“Junmyeon paid for it?” Yixing sat up a little bit and furrowed his brow at Jongdae, and Jongdae laughed.

“No, we split it, he paid for half of it.”

“So he paid for it.”

“He did not!”

“Without his money you wouldn’t have bought it, huh?” Yixing pouted and Jongdae thought the expression was terrible and hilarious.

“That’s true,” Jongdae admitted.

“Then he bought it for you!” Yixing sounded outraged and Jongdae laughed.

“I guess if you want to call it that, then sure! I still have to pay him back.”

“He sends you dog pictures and now he's buying you clothes? That should be me, Jongdae, I'm the one fucking you.” Yixing scowled, looking offended, and for once Jongdae couldn’t tell if he was playing around or not. Jongdae laughed anyway, and the sound seemed to soften Yixing’s expression.

“I don’t like Junmyeon, ah, he was just there and he has money.”

“So you’re using him, like a gold-digger.”

“I am not! I will _never_ spend Junmyeon’s money ever again!”

“I’ll hold you to that!” Yixing said.

“You’d better!” Jongdae replied with a laugh.

“I will! Don’t lie to me, Jongdae!” Yixing laughed too, and Jongdae swatted at his chest with a weak fist.

“I won’t, I promise,” Jongdae said, and then Yixing patted his side gently.

“I wanna fuck you, no matter who bought that jacket,” he said, and Jongdae grinned, putting a hand on his face.

“Ahh, Yixing.” Yixing brought him into another kiss and Jongdae absolutely couldn’t deny him when his lips felt like that. They made out for as long as Yixing could take and then Yixing got them out of their clothes quickly, flipping Jongdae onto his front and then scurrying off to get what he needed. He returned in a short moment and turned on some soft electronica by plugging his phone into a little speaker, and Jongdae didn’t know if he was ready for this, but when he felt Yixing’s fingers inside of him he was _positive_ it was what he needed.

He didn’t feel like much of a rock star anymore but he was okay with that. When he felt Yixing’s dick poking at his entrance he groaned and balled a fist, and Yixing put one hand carefully on his back. “Relax, babe,” he told him, and Jongdae tried to breathe.

“I like it,” Jongdae told him shortly, and he could feel Yixing smiling even though he couldn’t see him.

Jongdae had never had sex on a couch before but he was pretty sure he liked it in a bed better. Regardless of where he was Yixing was still the best sex he had ever had and he was fine getting it anywhere he could. Yixing put his hands on Jongdae’s hips and rocked against him, slowly at first and then picking up speed once Jongdae let him, and Jongdae felt the hairs on the back of his neck standing up like they did at the show.

Yixing put a hand in Jongdae’s hair and pulled on it for a moment, and Jongdae’s dick jumped, suddenly giving its full attention. Wow he liked that. He moaned loudly and then Yixing let go of his hair, and while Jongdae whined softly he heard Yixing grunting behind him. Yixing thrusted into him languidly a few more times and then pulled out, and Jongdae groaned at the feeling.

That was hot and wet and Jongdae felt kind of dizzy as he fell back on the couch. He liked seeing Yixing’s face when he orgasmed but whatever, that was still awesome. He breathed heavily while Yixing got up to throw away the condom, and closed his eyes while he laid on the couch.

Yixing returned to his side and cuddled up against him, and Jongdae managed a laugh. “You’re-- uhm. You’re so good at that.”

“You don’t have to tell me that every time we fuck, y’know, I know already,” Yixing mumbled with a grin, and Jongdae laughed again.

“Fine, I’ll stop telling you at all.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

“You got yourself here,” Jongdae said, and Yixing sighed a little.

“I suppose I did. Ah well.” Yixing relaxed against him and Jongdae hummed to himself, listening to the music playing from the speaker. His heart was still racing but the rest of his body felt entirely content to fall asleep right there.

They laid there for a while, and when Jongdae spoke again he wasn’t sure if Yixing had fallen asleep or not. “Is Kris mad at you?” He asked, and Yixing grunted at him.

“Not any more than usual, why?”

Jongdae laughed dryly at this. “I mean, because you tried to get out of work.”

“No, he really doesn’t care. He wouldn’t be mad at me for that, he knows I have a life.”

“Is he mad at you for hiding in that private room the other night?” Jongdae swallowed. “When was that, like, Monday? Tuesday? Whenever we were in the room.”

Yixing laughed a little. “Are you worried about that? No, he’s not mad, he just told me to stop.”

“Ahh,” Jongdae said, sounding more disappointed than he would’ve liked, and Yixing snorted.

“We don’t have to stop.”

Jongdae groaned. “I want to, if Kris told us to.”

“You’re too damn nice, Jongdae. You’re gonna let Kris walk all over you like that.”

“He’s our boss!” Jongdae laughed, the sound kind of strangled. Yixing snorted at him.

“He’s my friend first and the guy who signs my paycheck second.”

“Ahh, really?”

“Yeah, I’ve been working there since he started it up. Like three, four years, I think? It feels like forever.”

Jongdae breathed slowly, moving a hand to place on Yixing’s back. “Wow, that’s a long time. I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah, it’s been fun, too. I like working there a lot. I remember before we even had a janitor, and Kris had to walk around cleaning things. It got a lot better after you got there though,” Yixing said, and Jongdae laughed shortly.

“Thank you. I think so too.”

Yixing barked out a laugh at him and Jongdae enjoyed the sound. Jongdae stroked his back gently and Yixing continued talking to him. “Kris can be scary sometimes but he’s nice, like stupidly nice. I’ve done dumb shit at his club and he never cares as long as I keep showing up to work. Just be friends with him and you can get away with shit.”

“That might only work for you.”

“I _promise_ that you and your cute little face could get away with anything,” Yixing said with a smirk in Jongdae’s direction.

Jongdae whined. “I don’t want to get away with things. I play by the rules.”

“No fun at all,” Yixing said. “Rules were made to be broken.”

“That’s not true.”

“You’re young.” Yixing exhaled softly. “Kris called owning a strip club his own ‘personal gay fairy tale’ once.” Jongdae laughed loudly and Yixing grinned at him. “I still laugh at that.”

“That’s really funny and I can’t imagine him saying that.”

“I swear to you he’s so much goofier than he looks.”

“I believe that. I think everyone who works at the club is goofy as hell.”

“What’s the goofiest thing someone there’s ever said to you?” Yixing asked. “I think my Kris quote still reigns supreme for me.”

“Ahh...” Jongdae breathed slowly and thought about it. “I think in my first week working there Tao told me I was going to fit in because I had a nice ass. Oh, and one time Hoseok came up to me and just started speaking Korean. I don’t know Korean! I was confused,” Jongdae laughed. “Other than that, I can’t think of anything. I think everything everyone says to me is goofy, to be honest.”

“You’re probably right,” Yixing agreed. “Goofy bunch.”

“One time -- this wasn’t said to me but I watched it happen, does that count?” Jongdae asked, and when Yixing nodded he continued. “Sehun made Jongin take a selfie with him for Instagram. He said that if he posted a picture with a hot guy then more people would follow him.” Jongdae laughed. “I think that’s goofy. He took another picture with Tao too.”

Yixing snorted. “I don’t really know Sehun, he just got there.”

“Yeah, but I’m backstage with him a lot, I guess I see him do goofy shit.”

“He just hits on me a lot,” Yixing laughed once, stopped, and then continued laughing. “Isn’t he like, fifteen? Absolutely not.”

“He’s eighteen!” Jongdae guffawed. “Wow, he hits on you? He’s so bold.”

“I don’t know what he thinks he’s doing! He’s fourteen, he should know better than to hit on a grown man!” Yixing exclaimed, and it only made Jongdae laugh harder. Jongdae heard his phone vibrate in his pants on the floor and he made a soft sound, reaching his arm down to grope around for it. He pulled it out and saw that he had another snapchat from Junmyeon.

“Look, I got a picture,” Jongdae said, holding out his phone in front of them. Yixing put his head on Jongdae’s chest as Jongdae pressed the notification to reveal a four-second picture of a glass of alcohol on a dimly lit bar. Jongdae laughed and then turned his phone around. “Ahh, turn around, I wanna take a picture of you.”

“What?” Yixing chuckled and sat up like Jongdae asked him to. Yixing just sat there looking confused and Jongdae snapped a quick picture of him, sending it off to Junmyeon.

“He’s always sending me pictures of random Asian men so I might as well,” Jongdae excused himself.

Yixing laughed. “Who’s this?”

“Junmyeon.”

“Nnnh, Junmyeon,” Yixing said, dropping his head back down to Jongdae’s chest. He looked tired and Jongdae sighed a little.

“Do you want to go to bed?” He asked, and Yixing hummed a little before answering.

“Ahhh...sure. It’s late, isn’t it?” A glance at his phone told Jongdae it was a little after 3:30 in the morning, and when he relayed this information Yixing sat up. “Yeah, let’s go to bed. Stay over?”

“Sure,” Jongdae said, and Yixing took him into another kiss. They kissed slowly for a while until Yixing got up off the couch and pulled Jongdae up with his hand. He brought him into his bedroom and Jongdae went to sit down on the bed as Yixing went into his bathroom.

Jongdae watched Yixing taking some kind of subtle makeup off of his face as he laid in his bed. “Yixing,” he called out, and Yixing grunted at him to tell him he was listening. “What’d you do before the club?”

Yixing laughed stiffly. “I used to dance in a company downtown. Hated every motherfucker that worked there.”

Jongdae made a sound of wonder despite Yixing’s apparent distaste. “You worked as a dancer? In the city? You must be so good.”

“Thanks,” Yixing said shortly, as if it was burdensome, and Jongdae frowned.

“Why do you say that? As if I’m insulting you,” Jongdae mumbled, and thought for a moment that he sounded like Hakyeon or his mother. Yixing laughed a little and came back into the room.

“I just hated the job a lot. Not the dancing, but the atmosphere. Rich city kids living off of their parents’ money and dancing like they were addicted to Adderall because they all were.” Yixing sniffed and went around to his side of the bed to sit down. “I didn’t like it one bit. I like where I’m at now a lot more.”

“That’s good,” Jongdae said, and topped it off with a smile. “I do too, then.”

“Thanks,” Yixing grinned.

“I wanna see you dance, though,” Jongdae said, and Yixing laughed shortly.

“You’ve seen me dance before.”

“Not in the club, I mean, like on a stage or something.”

Yixing snorted. “All I know now’s stripper stuff.”

“You’re lying.”

“All I’m good at now is stripper stuff, ahh!” Yixing laughed again and swatted Jongdae with a limp hand. “Go to bed, lay down.” He took his own advice and collapsed on the bed, and Jongdae laughed a little, following him.

“Alright, fine.” Jongdae laid down and then turned over to nestle next to Yixing, and Yixing allowed this, putting his arm over Jongdae’s shoulder. Jongdae closed his eyes and rested his head on Yixing’s chest, feeling drained from the day. Holy shit he had had a fantastic day. He was going to have to write another song about it. Somehow Yixing was more tired than him and fell asleep first, according to the soft breathing sounds he was making, and Jongdae tried to relax against him. His limbs felt exhausted and his heart was just now starting to slow. It was Saturday tomorrow, wasn’t it? He didn’t have to set an alarm. Good. He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep, looking forward to waking up here in the morning.

 

 


	14. jongdae sees a few dicks, goes to work, and misses several opportunities

Jongdae had been looking forward to snaking his hand in between Yixing's legs the moment he woke up, so when he opened his eyes and was met with Yixing hopping out of bed, Jongdae was disappointed. Yixing wandered around the room collecting his pajama pants and chattering about breakfast for a while before leaving, and Jongdae sighed. At least he got a view of Yixing's ass as he was leaving.

His muscles felt a little bit tired, as if standing on a stage for twenty minutes last night was more exercise than his body had been ready for. He laughed at himself and sat up, reaching to the bedside table for his phone. It was Saturday, right? He could probably just bum off of Yixing for the rest of the day if he wanted.

Jongdae looked at his phone to check the time and saw he had three missed Snapchats and a barrage of texts from Junmyeon. What? He and Junmyeon didn't really text each other that often, what was this about? He opened his chat history and read the texts top to bottom.

_I sent you a Snapchat that wasn't meant for you! I'm so so so so so sorry I didn't mean to send that! I am so drunk._

_Please just ignore it. I'm so sorry._

_I accidentally checked like four people who didn't want that shit before I sent that. Fucking fuck fuck._

_At least half of them have seen it before?_

_I'm so sorry Jongdae. Seriously oh my god I'm such a fucking mess_

Jongdae got the impression he was supposed to be scandalized but he was more excited than anything. Whatever this was was going to be something wild, an under-ten-seconds glimpse into something he shouldn't be looking at. He opened Snapchat right away and pressed on Junmyeon's name.

First showed a dimly lit picture of two men standing next to each other in a bar, and Jongdae didn't know who either of them were. A pointless Junmyeon snapchat, as the man was wont to send. The second was a very loud video of the inside of a dance club, with the bass booming out of Jongdae's little phone speakers so hard he felt his phone vibrate. Last was a five second picture of an erect penis.

Jongdae choked out a breathless laugh and then guffawed for real. Junmyeon had sent this to tons of people? Classic! Jongdae was mortified for him but laughing at his expense. Junmyeon's dick wasn't bad looking either, he thought as the picture disappeared forever.

At least he assumed that was Junmyeon's dick. If Junmyeon had sent him a dickpic of some random guy Jongdae wouldn't know how to respond. He grinned at his phone and opened his chat with Junmyeon again, shooting him a quick text telling him that he wasn't upset. Oh god. What a weirdo. He hoped everyone else who received that photo also received profuse apologies as well, and he felt like they did.

It was an interesting way to start the day, though. Jongdae got out of bed and went to the bathroom to pee, and went back into Yixing’s bedroom to pull his clothes on. He had brought his pants into the room last night but his shirt and jacket seemed to still be out in the living room. He left the bedroom and smiled when he smelled heat coming from the kitchen.

Jongdae was still laughing at the Snapchat, and he chuckled a while to himself before calling out to Yixing in the kitchen. “Junmyeon sent me a--” he stopped himself there, motherfucker don’t go telling Yixing about the dickpic Junmyeon just sent you, he’ll get all weird and jealous like last night, “--a snapchat,” he thought quickly, “it was really funny.” There we go. That seemed like a normal thing he would say to Yixing. He was proud of catching himself.

“Should I make a Snapchat?” Yixing asked as he walked out into the living room. He was shirtless and distracting so Jongdae just stared at him for a moment before figuring he should respond, but Yixing kept talking as he stood there. “I think I’m getting too old for that kind of stuff, I dunno.”

“Awh, you’re not too old!” Jongdae laughed at him and put his feet up on the table, reaching across the couch for his t-shirt. He pulled it over his head and straightened himself out. “I can show you how to make it if you want.”

“When I’m done cooking. You want some eggs, right?”

“Ahh, sure, thank you.” Jongdae smiled at him. “It’s almost noon, isn’t it?”

“That’s breakfast time for me, my schedule’s all weird.” Yixing moved towards the table and leaned down to pick up a little rolled cigarette from it. He held it in two fingers and rummaged around the table for a lighter. “It’s actually kind of early for me to be awake, heh, I got excited.” He found the lighter and stood up, then smiled at Jongdae, holding out the joint. “Do you want some?”

“Oh, no thanks,” Jongdae said. He tried not to smoke in order to preserve his voice, since he had paid close attention to all of the scary movies that were shown in his high school health class. Yixing just smiled at him.

“Suit yourself. It’s alright if I smoke, right?”

“Yeah, go for it. I don’t notice a difference in you anyway,” Jongdae said with a laugh as he watched Yixing light the joint and take a drag from it. Yixing grinned and exhaled smoke slowly.

“It makes cooking a tiny bit more difficult and I love a challenge,” Yixing said, pulling his phone out of his back pocket and bringing it over to his speakers. He grunted at himself. “Ahh, my speakers were on all last night. I forgot to turn them off.” He sighed and plugged his phone into the speakers, and turned on some very soft music. He wandered off into the kitchen again and Jongdae pulled out his own phone to fuss with.

Jongdae checked and cleared out his school email while sitting there and then turned his phone off to close his eyes and pay attention to the music Yixing had put on. It was faint and relaxing, and he liked the way it quietly filled the room. He listened to the sounds of eggs frying in the kitchen and almost got up to go watch Yixing, but then decided not to. Maybe that would be weird. He was still trying to figure out what he was doing here in Yixing’s living room.

Eventually Yixing returned holding two little paper plates of scrambled eggs and Jongdae grinned at him, lifting both hands and making grabby hands. “Ahh, come here.” Yixing laughed and handed him a plate and a fork.

“It’s not my best work but I’m getting there,” Yixing said as he moved around the couch to sit down next to Jongdae. He put his feet up on the table next to Jongdae’s and Jongdae laughed at the pair of chopsticks in his hand.

“Are you better at using those?” He motioned at Yixing’s hand, and Yixing nodded.

“Yeah, I grew up with these, I can pick up anything. You can’t use them?”

Jongdae scoffed. “Yeah, I can use them! I’m not that white-washed,” he laughed at himself and scooted a tiny bit closer just to feel Yixing’s skin. Yixing didn’t seem to mind, focused on feeding himself, and Jongdae watched him for a moment before starting on his own eggs.

“These are good,” he told Yixing after a few moments, and Yixing laughed at him.

“Were you expecting them to be terrible?”

“No, no! I don’t know what I was expecting. These are good though.” Jongdae swallowed and nodded in Yixing’s direction, lifting a hand to shake at him. “Give me your phone, let me show you how to use Snapchat.”

“Ahh, okay.” Yixing got up and went over to the speakers, unplugging his phone and bringing it over. He attempted to hold it in his own hands but Jongdae snatched it from him.

“I have to download the app from the app store, I assume you don’t already have it,” Jongdae said, amused that Yixing didn’t have a passcode on his phone. He got inside and opened the app store, and then looked for Snapchat. Yixing watched him closely over his shoulder and Jongdae smiled at him.

“Does this take up a lot of space?” Yixing asked, and Jongdae shook his head.

“Nope, I don’t think so.” He exited the store when he downloaded the app, and watched the little app square show up on the page. When it downloaded he opened it, and then handed Yixing’s phone back to him.

“I think it’s that easy?” Jongdae asked. It had been a really long time since he had made his account. The startup screen asked Yixing to create an account and Yixing blinked at it. He typed “zhangyixing” into the username spot and Jongdae barked out a laugh at him. “That’s so lame, come up with something funny!”

Yixing snorted indignantly at Jongdae and then backspaced, hovering his fingers over the keys for a moment before typing in “jongdaesucks”. Jongdae laughed harder and nodded at him, giving him permission to go on. Yixing entered a password and the app opened up for him.

“This is a good username,” Jongdae cackled shortly. He motioned at Yixing’s phone and chewed around the egg in his mouth. “Okay, uhm, do you know how to use it?”

“I’ve seen you do it, but I’ve never done it before.”

“You just take a picture by pressing this button here,” Jongdae pointed at the spot. “And then in the corner here you can decide how long you want the picture to show for. It can stay for up to ten seconds but then it disappears forever.”

“Okay.”

“And if you swipe here you can put a filter or something on it. If you press on the picture you can add text or emojis.”

“Jongdae I’m not _that_ old, I can figure it out,” Yixing laughed, and Jongdae just smirked at him, not done teaching him how to use his phone.  
  
“And if you hold down the circle thing it’ll record a video instead of taking a picture, but those can only be ten seconds or less too.”

“I don’t have any contacts,” Yixing handed his phone to Jongdae. “Add me on it.”

“Ah, okay.” Jongdae smiled and took Yixing’s phone from him. “I don’t really send a lot of pictures but I might pick back up if you’re sending things.” He typed ‘birdbehavior’ into the search bar and clicked on the name when it appeared.

Yixing chortled lowly and Jongdae had become used to hearing the sound in response to his username. “What’s birdbehavior?”

“It’s...” Jongdae trailed off with a smile, trying to figure out how to introduce this. “When I was in high school my friends and I would hear something goofy and think, ‘oh, that sounds like a band name’, and Bird Behavior was just one that stuck with me, that’s all. I think it sounds like a twee indie band.”

“You’re right, it does.”

“So that’s me. I guess once it registers you have my number, it’ll put me under Jongdae or whatever. And...” He opened the search bar and typed in ‘junmoney91’, then pressed on the name. “This is Junmyeon. He sends a lot of pictures, he’ll show you how to use it just by being annoying.”

“Ahh. Thanks,” Yixing said, taking his phone back when Jongdae held it out to him. He brought back the main screen and held his phone up, and Jongdae figured he was taking a picture of him. He laughed out loud and then jumped to look at the picture Yixing had taken. It was just plain ol’ Jongdae sitting on the couch. Alright. He watched Yixing send it to both Junmyeon and his own accounts and smiled.

“You did it! It can be really fun.”

“I’ll see who else in my phone has this,” Yixing said as he opened his contact list. Jongdae’s phone went off to tell him he got a snapchat from “jongdaesucks” and Jongdae chuckled and quieted it. He finished eating his eggs and put the plate down on the table, then watched Yixing scrolling about his contact list and adding people.

Yixing took a picture of his breakfast and Jongdae watched him send it to him. Jongdae laughed when his phone went off again. “Ah, you don’t have to send me pictures when I’m right here!”

“But I’m excited! I have a new toy!” Yixing laughed and stood up to return his phone to the speakers. When music started softly playing again Jongdae made a quiet sound to show he was pleased.

“I like how you always have music on,” Jongdae started, and then nodded. “When I'm at home in my room I always have music playing. So it feels nice and familiar.”

“I get antsy if there isn’t music playing. I’ve collected a lot of ambient stuff because of it.” Yixing smiled a little, and Jongdae felt his fingers twitch on his phone.

“I wanna play something for you,” Jongdae said as Yixing came back to the couch. He sat down and picked up his plate once more.

“What’s that?”

“A song I wrote,” Jongdae said, feeling foolish for not showing it to Yixing earlier. Yixing always liked ambient stuff, didn’t he? Jongdae tried to think back to all the times Yixing had played music in front of him and it was always gentle sounding, like this song he wrote...he was proud of himself for transferring it onto his phone.

He started to play the song he had written in Yixing’s bathroom, and then put his phone on the couch in between them. Yixing picked it up and held it so he could hear it better, and Jongdae squirmed a little.

“This is you?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Jongdae replied.

“You can play guitar?”

“Ahh, not really. I can play chords and that’s it. I couldn’t do it without a guide in front of me telling me where to put my fingers though.”

Yixing nodded, accepting this answer as he slowly chewed his breakfast. Jongdae couldn’t help but study his face as the song played, and as per usual Yixing’s face was telling him nothing. He felt antsy and was beginning to question why he was playing this song for Yixing in the first place, if it was making him so anxious.

He needed to get over that though. Last night was incredible and just the thought of playing his _own_ music on a stage was sending adrenaline through his veins. If he wanted to do that then he’d have to get used to people listening to his goddamn music.

“You play piano, though,” Yixing spoke up, and Jongdae nodded.

“Ah, yes, I do. I have a keyboard in my dorm room.”

“That’s really cool,” Yixing said. “I wish I could play an instrument.”

“It’s not that hard to learn an easy song,” Jongdae gave him a smile, and Yixing smirked a little.

“Maybe someday. I like this, what’s it called?”

“I dunno, I still haven’t named it.” Jongdae shrugged. “Maybe I was hoping you could name it for me.”

“Bird Behavior,” Yixing said with a laugh, and Jongdae snorted.

“No, that’s the artist. _I’m_ Bird Behavior.”

“Then I don’t know.” Yixing laughed playfully and Jongdae enjoyed the sound. “You can’t just ask me to name this song for you, I’m not good at this artsy stuff.”

“You said last night you were a dancer!” Jongdae exclaimed, watching Yixing lean over to the table to put his empty plate down on it. Yixing leaned back down and shook his head with a smile.

“I mean this kind of artsy stuff. Dancing you do with your body just fine, but music kind of falls off of your brain, doesn’t it.”

Jongdae sat there, listening to the song coming to an end. Yixing was right, that sounded about right. His brain always felt tired after he finished a song. He put his phone into his pocket and stretched his legs out in front of him. “Thank you for breakfast, it was really good.” Jongdae wasn’t even used to eating breakfast because he liked the stressful thrill of waking up ten minutes before class, so he felt full and kind of sleepy with food inside of him.

Yixing looked over at him with a curious smile, then leaned over to kiss him. Jongdae made a little sound and kissed back, thinking maybe he should tell Yixing he wrote that song about him. Maybe...maybe not, he thought as Yixing put a hand on his arm and continued kissing him. Maybe that would be a weird thing to say in this moment right now.

Maybe after they were done kissing or whatever they were going to do. Their gentle touches and kisses led to heavier petting that resulted in them returning to Yixing’s bedroom, and Jongdae didn’t mind the way Yixing tasted like smoke and eggs. At this point in his infatuation even that was hot to him.

The more he thought about it the more he realized maybe Yixing’s egg taste wasn’t sexy but the way he put his hands on Jongdae’s hips when he had his dick inside of him definitely was. Jongdae was still coming to terms with the sudden influx of stripper sex he was having and he didn’t know if he deserved it, but he absolutely was not going to fight it. This was the best sex he had ever had and he liked Yixing a lot.

He wasn’t used to having sex so early in the day, so when he was panting and spent and rolled over to the side, he saw the sunlight shining in through the window and groaned a little. He had a full day ahead of him, but he just felt like falling asleep right there. He rolled back next to Yixing and groaned into his skin. “I don’t want to go to work tonight.”

“Then fuck that noise, let’s not go.”

Jongdae laughed. “No, we have to.”

“Then stop whining and enjoy yourself for now.”

“I kind of just want to take a nap right here...” Jongdae said, wrapping his arm around Yixing’s front and cuddling closer to him. Yixing smirked down at him and patted his hair with a gentle hand.

“You can do that. I don’t have anywhere else to be for a while.”

“Alright, I’m gonna do that.” Jongdae nestled against Yixing’s skin as close as he could go and closed his eyes, feeling warm and sated after being fed and fucked. Wow he was simple. He could really get used to this kind of life. He vaguely thought he heard Yixing asking if he could suck his dick right as he drifted off to sleep.

 

A few days later Jongdae was observing how round and perfect Sehun’s ass was when they were backstage, and he was surprised nobody had smacked him in the arm and yelled at him for so obviously ogling him for so long. Sehun had been bent over trying to tie his shoe for nearly a minute and Jongdae had been studying his behind the entire time. He had seen some nice asses in his months working at the club but Sehun was another level. Jongdae wondered how proud of himself Kris felt for getting him.

Apparently Sehun’s ass was distracting to everyone else because when Yixing stepped in from the curtain, he glanced in Sehun’s direction, blinked at him bent over, then walked over and carefully palmed Sehun’s ass in his hand. Jongdae barked out a laugh at the way Yixing looked like a caveman who had just discovered fire, and Sehun jumped a little bit, making a laughy sound.

“What?” Sehun asked him, and Yixing yanked his hand away.

“I’m...I’m sorry. Wow, that was really awful of me, wasn’t it?” Yixing laughed nervously. “I shouldn’t just walk up to you and grab your ass.”

“I don’t care,” Sehun said with a toothy grin, and Yixing snickered.

“Good. That’s a good way to be.” Sehun knocked his ass against Yixing’s hand and Yixing laughed once more. “Ahh, you’re cheeky.”

“Your word choice,” Jongdae called out to them, grinning, and Yixing lifted a hand to make a finger gun at him.

“I’m hilarious.”

“Thanks for blessing me, I feel like I’m going to do well now.” Sehun tittered and smacked his hand on Yixing’s back as he walked by him.

“Have fun,” Jongdae told him as he watched Sehun go out onto the floor.

Yixing clenched his hand into a fist a few times and looked over at Hakyeon, who was sitting at his vanity playing with his phone. “Hakyeon, how old is Sehun?”

Jongdae had definitely told Yixing this before but apparently he hadn’t paid attention. Jongdae snorted at him and Hakyeon looked up from his phone with a smarmy little smile. “He’s eighteen.”

Yixing stared at Hakyeon, then raised his hand to stare at it as if he had just taken a life with it. Jongdae burst out laughing at the expression on Yixing’s face, and then laughed again as Yixing started shouting. “Kris is a fucking creep, what the hell is he doing?!”

“It’s legal,” Hakyeon said shortly, as if he didn’t approve either but had to submit to it. He gave Yixing a sardonic smile and Yixing returned it with a goofy one.

“I know the young guys make the most money but goddamn, aren’t eighteen year olds still in high school?”

“Some of them are. Sehun isn’t.”

“That’s so weird to me.” Yixing shook his hand a few times like he was trying to get water off of it, and then went over to Tao, reaching over and making a move as if he was going to yank Tao’s headphones out of his ears. Jongdae wondered what kind of bloodshed would result from that if it happened.

Tao noticed Yixing’s hand moving in front of his face and he pulled one of his headphones out. “What’s up?”

“Can I use this chair?” Yixing pointed at the chair that Jongdae knew was Jongin’s, and Tao shrugged.

“I guess so. I don’t think Jongin is here tonight.”

“Oh, sweet.” Yixing pulled the chair closer and plopped down in it. “I need to get myself a spot on this side of the room. The other side’s where all the quiet people are. I’m not quiet.”

“You’re certainly not quiet,” Jongdae backed him up, and Yixing cocked his head to the side with a little smile.

“What’s that mean?”

Tao then said a short word in Chinese that made him and Yixing laugh, but before Jongdae could furrow his brow and ask them what he said, Kris had come in through the curtain and was mid-sentence. Hearing his voice distracted Jongdae and he looked over to where his boss was, always afraid that he was in trouble for some reason.

“Hey, Jongdae, there are nuts all over the floor,” Kris told him while adjusting his belt like a crotchety old man, and Jongdae laughed out loud.

“Do we even serve nuts here?” Jongdae asked, already getting up to go to his closet.

“Do we even serve nuts,” Tao scoffed. “We’re a gay strip club.”

“You-- that’s terrible!” Kris pointed at Tao. “You can’t tell me I make bad jokes and then turn around and make worse ones!”

Jongdae chuckled under his breath while getting out the broom and dustpan from his closet. He glanced over to see Yixing watching Tao and Kris’ back and forth with a very amused look on his face, then went out onto the floor to find the offending nut disaster.

It wasn’t hard to clean up a tiny dish of nuts that had been knocked to the floor, but Jongdae felt as if he deserved a reward afterwards anyway. He went over to the bar hoping he could get Chanyeol to pour a soda for him, but when he saw the back of Junmyeon’s head he jumped. He had money to pay him back! It was in his backpack. He hopped over to the bar and slammed his hands down on the counter, making Junmyeon jump right up and causing Chanyeol to look up at him. “I would like a Coca-cola.”

“Jongdae, that was scary,” Junmyeon breathed out a laugh, and Jongdae laughed with him.

“I don’t know why I did that.”

“Don’t go around smacking my counters,” Chanyeol smirked at him, and Jongdae stuck out his tongue.

“I’m sorry. I’ll be right back, save this spot.” Jongdae left to go backstage, and when he had put the broom and dustpan away he went over to rummage through his backpack. He found his wallet and pulled the cash he had acquired from his campus’ ATM earlier that day. After this transaction he made for Junmyeon he had a very proud three dollars and twelve cents left in his bank account. He was terrified. He would be getting paid soon, but he hadn’t had to live on such means for a really long time.

“Where you going with all that cash?” Yixing called out to him as he saw Jongdae leaving, and when Jongdae just cackled in his direction Yixing kept yelling after him. “We’re not prostitutes, Jongdae!”

Just the idea of paying someone here for sex made Jongdae laugh. No he was paying him back for the goddamn jacket. He went back to the bar and climbed up on the barstool next to Junmyeon’s, smiling when he found a glass of Coke waiting there for him.

“Thank you, Chanyeol,” he called down to Chanyeol, who was helping somebody else at the bar. Chanyeol flashed him a quick smile and Jongdae handed Junmyeon the cash he was holding. “Here, I told you I would pay you back.”

“Wh...this is for the jacket?” Junmyeon reached to take the money from him and fumbled a bit as Jongdae let him take most of the bills but kept a tight hold on one of the tens.

“Yeah, it is. I’m really thankful, but I know I already told you that.” Jongdae smiled at him and then waved the ten dollar bill at Jaehwan when he walked over. “Jaehwan, can you make Junmyeon a drink?”

“Yeah, what’s he want? What d’you want?” Jaehwan asked, smiling a little at Junmyeon, and Junmyeon blinked in Jongdae’s direction.

“What?”

“I’m buying you a drink to thank you for the jacket,” Jongdae told him. It was also kind of to thank him for the wonderful dickpic but he wasn’t going to mention that.

“But that’s the money you’d be giving to me anyway.” Junmyeon said with a tiny smile.

Jongdae responded with a wider one. “I know, that’s just my charm.”

“Hah! Jongdae.” Junmyeon grinned at him and then turned it on Jaehwan. “Just make me a gin and tonic, that’s fine.”

“That’s no fun at all, but alright.” Jaehwan went off to make his drink and Junmyeon leaned his arm on the counter to smile easily at Jongdae.

“I forgot to ask you how your show went,” Junmyeon started, and Jongdae made an excited sound.

“It was really fun! Like one of the most fun things I’ve ever done. I’m barely legal enough to get into a bar and I was singing there. It was awesome, I didn’t get a video or anything, though. I’m a little mad at myself for not getting that done.”

“I’m sure you guys sounded great,” Junmyeon told him, and Jongdae laughed.

“Ah, thank you.”

“And you wore the thing we bought?”

“Mhm! I left it at home tonight to give it a rest, I’ve been wearing it for hours. I really like it. It’s like the nicest jacket I’ve ever had.” Jongdae almost rolled his eyes at the thought. “So I’m really, really grateful to you. That’s why--” he lifted both hands when Jaehwan came over and presented him with his drink. “--you got this. Congrats!”  
  
Junmyeon laughed out loud and thanked Jaehwan for bringing him the drink. “This is great, I love pretending that I’m getting free alcohol.”

“It’s fun, isn’t it?” Jongdae asked excitedly, and Junmyeon snorted while he took a sip from his glass, then reached over to swat at Jongdae.

“You’re silly. Thank you for this.”

“You’re welcome.” Jongdae watched Junmyeon drink from his glass and wondered what a gin and tonic tasted like. Probably like pine needles and terribleness. Jongdae still wasn’t a huge fan of alcohol. He glanced Junmyeon’s well-pressed outfit up and down and sighed a little bit. Junmyeon seemed pretty put-together tonight, why did everyone have something rude to say about him? He opened his mouth to attempt to maybe flirt or something but he pulled the plug on that idea when he heard Yixing calling his name from the curtain.

He looked over and saw Yixing standing in the curtain, looking like a lost child who couldn’t find his mother. Yixing walked over and patted Jongdae on the back. “Sanghyuk’s drink knocked over and it’s all over the floor, he’s kind of freaking out.”

“Whaaat? Is it soda?” Jongdae was groaning at the thought of having to mop up something sticky.

Yixing nodded. “I think so.”

“Why am I busy tonight?” Jongdae huffed and got up from his chair. “Junmyeon, give me a second, sorry.” He went over to the curtain and jumped to look around when he heard Yixing raising his voice out of nowhere. He glanced back at Yixing and Junmyeon at the bar and caught a glimpse of Junmyeon looking terrified before darting backstage through the curtain. Whatever that was Jongdae didn’t have the time for.

Sanghyuk was standing by his vanity looking entirely dejected at the puddle of purple liquid on the floor, so when Jongdae rolled up to him with his mop he glanced up and made little expression. “I’m sorry,” he said once Jongdae had brought the mop to the spill.

Jongdae smiled at him. “It’s fine, really, not a big deal.”

“I didn’t realize I had knocked it over and I guess it just kept spilling out.”

“I got over fast so it’s fine.” Jongdae moved his mop back and forth and kept his eyes trained on the way Sanghyuk seemed to be melting into his chair. When he had cleaned up the spill he went over and put his hands on Sanghyuk’s shoulders. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Sanghyuk said shortly. Jongdae didn’t think he looked fine, but if Sanghyuk wasn’t going to talk to him he wasn’t going to press it. Sanghyuk was nineteen years old the last time Jongdae had checked, and had always been kind of quiet. He probably couldn’t pry anything out of him even if he tried.

“Alright. If you feel bad then...I’ll be wandering around I guess. Find me.” Jongdae tried to smile at him in the reflection of the mirror but Sanghyuk wasn’t looking at him. Jongdae went to return the mop to his closet when he saw Junmyeon enter in through the curtain.

He hadn’t seen a lot of Junmyeon backstage ever since he and Jongin broke up, which Jongdae always assumed was Junmyeon’s way of avoiding him. But Junmyeon had probably figured out that Jongin wasn’t working tonight, so he didn’t seem as awkward as he could be. He found Tao and pointed at him, and Jongdae laughed shortly just at the little movement. “Tao!”

Tao glanced up at him and then grunted. “What, Junmyeon?”

“Tao.” Junmyeon pursed his lips and walked over to Tao, and Jongdae heard his shoes clicking against the floor. “Yixing just told me he knows I wear insoles. Why would you tell him that?”

The idea that the only person who would have the gall to tell Yixing about Junmyeon’s insoles would be Tao made Jongdae burst out laughing, and from the douchey grin on Tao’s face he could tell that Junmyeon was right. “Ah, I didn’t think it mattered.”

“I’d really prefer it if you didn’t go around telling people that.”

“Your goal here’s to get laid, right?” Tao started, and Jongdae moved to Jongin’s chair to observe this conversation. “If you wanna get laid then you have to take your shoes off, and then whoever you’re with will see you’re shorter than they thought! So what’s the point of hiding it? What’s the point of having them at all?”

Jongdae glanced up to see Sehun coming back from dancing his set, and he looked over the beads of sweat rolling down his neck before feeling kind of creepy and looking back to Tao and Junmyeon. Sehun walked in front of him to get to his vanity and Jongdae sat up a bit. “Just don’t tell people I wear insoles, thanks.” Junmyeon said with finality.

“Ahh, you’re not listening to me!”

“You’re not listening to me,” Junmyeon scowled, and Tao scoffed at him.

“Fine, fine, I’ll keep it to myself. I won’t tell anyone. Happy?”

“I’m thrilled.”

“Jongdae,” Sehun reached over and shook his hand at Jongdae to get his attention, and Jongdae glanced over at him.

“What?”

“Who is that?” Sehun asked, his gaze trained towards Junmyeon. “Like, what does he do here?”

“What, who? You mean Junmyeon? He’s friends with the bartenders,” Jongdae said. _And he’s kind of a perv._ He wasn’t going to tack that on the end there. “I’ve definitely seen you talking to him before, Sehun.”

“No, I know that, I know him, but does he work here?”

“No, he just spends a lot of time here.”

“Oh. I thought he worked here.” Sehun kept gazing in Junmyeon’s direction and Jongdae smirked at him. “He’s here like all the time.”

“Mhm, he is,” Jongdae said with a little smile. At that Junmyeon glanced over at Jongdae and caught his eye, and was making his way over before Jongdae even realized he was done with his conversation with Tao. Or maybe he had gotten fed up with it and quit, that sounded quite plausible too. Junmyeon came over and plopped down in Sehun’s chair despite Sehun standing right there, and Sehun didn’t seem to mind, focused on removing his makeup in his mirror.

“Jongdae,” Junmyeon started, and Jongdae smiled at him.

“Hi there,” Jongdae said.

“What are you doing tonight when you’re off work?” Junmyeon asked him, crossing his legs in his lap, and Jongdae blinked at him, not expecting this. Junmyeon wanted to spend time with him? After 2am? Oh. Okay. Jongdae swallowed a little.

“Uhm, I’ve got a lot of homework,” he lied. For some reason he didn’t want to spend tonight with Junmyeon. He thought back to the morning he had spent in Yixing’s apartment and felt a little warm. His mind was elsewhere.

Junmyeon frowned deeply for a split second and Jongdae thought the expression was much more disappointed than what the situation called for. “Ahh, really? You’re just gonna go home and get your work done?”

“Yeah, I’d been planning on that.”

“That’s a shame.” Junmyeon pursed his lips and Jongdae tried smiling at him. He opened his mouth to ask Junmyeon if they could hang out another time, but then Sehun had turned around and was looking down at Junmyeon with hollow eyes.

“Lemme sit down,” he said. Junmyeon just stared up at him, smirking playfully, and Sehun rolled his eyes, resisting a smile. “It’s my chair, I wanna sit down. I just danced.”

“But I was sitting here first,” Junmyeon complained airily.

“That doesn’t count, I work here. That chair kind of belongs to me.”

“I don’t think that’s true.”

“Lemme sit,” Sehun moved closer and Junmyeon raised a hand as if he was trying to keep Sehun from smacking him. Sehun barked out a laugh. “What, are you gonna punch me like you did that middle schooler?”

Tao laughed loudly and dryly, apparently still paying attention, and Junmyeon snorted indignantly. “I did not punch a middle schooler.”

“You punched that short guy a few weeks ago.”

“He’s not a middle schooler. He’s older than I am.”

“That’s unfortunate about his height then. Let me sit.” Sehun motioned Junmyeon away and Junmyeon finally got out of his chair to let Sehun flop down. Sehun smirked up at him and Junmyeon made some kind of constipated expression that made Jongdae laugh.

“I’m gonna finish my drink and leave, then,” Junmyeon said, smiling casually at Jongdae. Jongdae made a sound and sat up a bit to smack Junmyeon’s arm lightly.

“Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow!” He didn’t know how serious he was being, but when Junmyeon smirked at him he assumed he was right.

“I’ll see you. Thanks for paying me back. Bye, Sehun,” he told the younger boy before leaving out the curtain. Jongdae watched him for a moment and then sighed. Maybe he could’ve gotten laid again tonight.

He didn’t know if he really wanted to do that though. He went over to where he had left his laptop at Tao’s desk and brought it over to Jongin’s, setting it down and opening his work folder. He was pretty sure he didn’t have a lot to do tonight, but he did have an early class tomorrow. He tried to dive right into his Jazz History reading but the backstage area seemed to be as busy as it was out on the floor tonight.

When he was halfway through with his reading he felt Yixing’s fingers tapping at his shoulder, and he questioned how he already knew the touch was Yixing’s before even seeing him. He turned around and smiled at him. “What’s up?”

Yixing sat down in Sehun’s chair and Jongdae wondered when Sehun had even gotten up and left. “What are you doing tonight?”

Jongdae hesitated. That’s exactly what Junmyeon had asked him, and Jongdae kind of wanted to laugh. Well...shit. If he went home with Yixing he’d definitely get laid, but now he felt bad about lying to Junmyeon. He almost felt like he was obligated to go home and do his homework now that he had told Junmyeon about it.

“I have a lot of homework,” he said reluctantly. Yixing cursed under his breath and Jongdae smiled a little bit at him.

“That sucks. You can’t finish it here?”

“N...no. I need a book back in my dorm.” Jongdae felt weird lying about such a thing but whatever, he was actually being a good student for once. Yixing looked away from him with his lips pursed for a moment, and then shrugged.

“Oh well. I’ll see you, then, ‘cause I’m heading out right now.” Yixing got up from Sehun’s chair and Jongdae made a sound of dissent.

“Really?” He glanced at his laptop and saw that it was a little after 1:30am.

“Yeah, I finished my sets and I don’t have shit to do so I’m just gonna go. Kris said it was okay.” Yixing nodded at him. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Alright, uhm, get home safe.” Jongdae smiled tightly at him and Yixing returned it, and after he watched Yixing leave Jongdae felt a little stupid. Homework! Why would he tell him he had _homework_?! He could be on his way to have sex with Yixing right now! Goddamnit.

Jongdae managed to finish all of his Jazz History homework in the remaining time at work, and when he went around the club cleaning everything up before closing time he felt like an idiot. Now he was just going to go home and stare up at his ceiling for a while. Maybe he could text Yixing and tell him he finished early-- _no_ because then he would’ve lied to Junmyeon. That was the whole problem there. Junmyeon. Damnit!

He said swift goodbyes to his coworkers and was a little confused when Sehun brought him into a hug, but he didn’t resist it. Sehun was a lot friendlier than Jongdae had thought he would be. Jongdae packed up all of his things and went out to catch a cab, and once he was in the back of one he decided to look through his phone. He saw the frantic texts from Junmyeon again and smiled a little, and then blinked when he got a notification about a snapchat from “jongdaesucks”.

He hadn’t put Yixing’s name into his snapchat yet so the username was still showing. That was hilarious. He wondered what Junmyeon’s reaction to being added by “jongdaesucks” was while he opened the app to check it. He pressed on Yixing’s username and was met with a mirror selfie of Yixing holding his shirt up to show his abs. _What_. What even was the point of this picture, Yixing walked around shirtless all the damn time. Jongdae could see his abs whenever he fucking wanted.

When the picture disappeared Jongdae still felt like he had missed an opportunity. He put his phone down and groaned at himself. He felt so stupid. Multiple dicks had been thrown in his direction tonight and he had dodged them all, just to be polite. Damnit! He wasn’t going to do that again. Now he felt a weird mix of angry and horny. The next time someone asked him to hang out with them he was going to accept it, because this was unacceptable.

 

 


	15. jongdae talks on the phone and gets hard

A few days later Jongdae was lying on his bed in his dorm room experiencing the new Purity Ring album with the lights dimmed and window shade drawn, because that was his preferred method of experiencing this band. The album had come out maybe a month ago but he didn’t know why he had put it off for so long, since he had really enjoyed their last one. He liked this one a lot too just on the first listen, so when his phone ringtone went off halfway through the fifth track he groaned. He didn’t feel like answering a phone call right now, but when he lifted his phone he saw that it was Yixing calling him. Huh. Yixing had never called him before. He moved to answer the call before pausing his music.

“Yixing, wuh!” He laughed into his phone a little bit. “Why are you calling me?” Jongdae looked to the clock on his desk and saw that it was almost seven. He should probably start to get ready for work but he wanted to finish the album first.

"Hi, I want to open with the thing that is less likely to get me smacked the next time I see you," Yixing started. Jongdae blinked into the stillness of his room.

“What?” What the hell did that mean? Was Yixing about to make him upset? He sat up a little bit. “Uhm, alright, tell me.”

“I thought of a title for the song you wrote,” Yixing said, and Jongdae felt a huge grin break out on his face. He hadn’t even thought Yixing had paid much attention to his song, since he didn’t have much of a reaction to it. Jongdae remembered playing the song for Yixing and Yixing not really being into it. God Yixing was weird.

“Are you serious? You’ve been thinking about it?”

“It’s been stuck in my head!” Yixing said, and Jongdae actually flailed a little on his bed before feeling like a silly teenager and stopping himself. Wow, he wrote something that got stuck in someone’s head. That was new.

“Alright, what do you want to call it?”

“Float. Is that dumb? I like it. I like one-word titles. I dunno. Float.”

“Float,” Jongdae repeated, and then laughed lightly. That wasn’t what he had been expecting but he hadn’t been expecting anything in particular, since he had no idea what he was going to call the song. At least Yixing had suggestions. Float was cute. “I like that.”

“Really? That makes me feel better. When you played the song I kind of felt like I was floating. I want to hear it again. Y'know the ‘dun dundundun dun dun’ part? That’s what I was thinking of. I thought I was floating.”

Jongdae couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and was having a lot of trouble keeping himself from flailing. Getting this kind of feedback was surreal. “That’s like, the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

“Shut up, it is not.”

“Well not when you follow it with ‘shut up’, but I was being serious. Usually people don’t talk to me about my music.” _Because you never play it for anyone._ Maybe he could change that.

“Well they should. Can I name the song then? Can it be a collaborative effort?”

Jongdae laughed shortly. “I’ll let it sit in my brain for a little bit and get back to you. But I like it a lot.”

“Alright, awesome. You better thank me in the liner notes in the album.”

Jongdae laughed out loud, unable to keep his glee from bubbling over. “What’s this other thing you’re gonna tell me now? This thing that’ll make me smack you?”

“Ahh, god.” Yixing hesitated a little bit before speaking again and Jongdae felt impatient. “This was something that happened at work yesterday. I’ve been going over how to tell you in my head all day but I’m still not entirely prepared.”

“Did you get me fired?” Jongdae asked, still not able to kill his smile even though he was vaguely terrified of what Yixing was going to tell him.

“No, it’s honestly not that bad.”

“Then why are you setting me up for the worst?”

“Because I don’t know how you’ll react to it.”

“Then just tell me so we can find out!” Jongdae laughed. He heard Yixing chuckling into his phone and the sound felt warm to him.

“Okay, I have to set the scene. I have to tell a story. Junmyeon offered me cash to fuck him last night, because I guess he got over whatever was making him afraid of me.”

Jongdae almost choked on his own spit, completely caught off guard. Holy shit did Yixing and Junmyeon have sex? Jongdae opened his mouth to make a joke about how he had seen Junmyeon’s dick first, but then Yixing kept speaking. “I told him no because actually being faced with the situation made me realize I don’t want to be that guy. Are you proud?”

Jongdae snorted a laugh. “Yeah, I’m really proud. I thought you were trying to buy a game.”

“An XBOX. But I won’t prostitute myself for it. I’ll play my video games the legal way, thanks.”

“Why would I smack you for turning down money for sex, Yixing?”

“It’s not that, I’m not done telling the story! I’m setting the scene, Jongdae, gosh.” Yixing laughed at him but Jongdae didn’t think the sound was mocking him at all. “I told him that I couldn’t do it because I’m kind of sleeping with you.”

Jongdae blinked into the gray light of his room. Well, that was true, Yixing wasn’t lying. He didn’t think they were exclusive or anything though. Fuck, did Yixing think they were dating? Jongdae felt himself panic a little bit, he hadn’t meant to get mixed up in this at all. If Yixing thought they were dating he didn’t know how he would handle it. He didn’t think he wanted to be in a relationship right now. “Uhm, okay. Why would you tell him that?”

Jongdae couldn’t tell if this was the right thing to say or not because Yixing didn’t respond for a short moment. “Well I just. I wanted to clear it with you first. I try not to make peoples’ lives stressful.”

Jongdae rolled his eyes. Yixing wasn’t doing a very good job of that. “Alright, well, I don’t care if you sleep with people. I mean I would care if you’d have been paid for it since that’s not legal but like, if you just wanted to fuck Junmyeon I really don’t care.” Jongdae huffed a little. He thought that having a vague crush on Junmyeon was _his_ thing. Now Yixing was beating him to it.

Yixing barked out a laugh. “I don’t actually want to fuck Junmyeon, but then he said something ridiculous and now I’m curious.”

“Oh god.”

“He likes you, Jongdae.”

Jongdae exhaled a rough laugh in defense. “He does not.”

“Nah, he said those words to me! He likes you!”

“Then why are you telling me this if he told you in confidence?” Jongdae asked, feeling heat rise up the back of his neck. He curled his toes in front of him and frowned deeply. What the fuck was this? He really didn’t know Junmyeon that well, it didn’t make sense to him that Junmyeon paid any attention to him at all. Why would he if he had all those strippers walking around? Jongdae was a non-entity at work. Damnit.

“He did not tell me in confidence. He wanted me to tell you.”

Jongdae scoffed, closing his eyes. “What kind of middle school boy with a crush? That’s so-- I don’t know.”

“Okay, he didn’t actually tell me ‘I want you to tell Jongdae I like him’. He didn’t say anything like that. But he said he was interested in sleeping with you once I brought up that I was sleeping with you. And then we got talking--”

“Wait, wait, wait, go the fuck back,” Jongdae breathed, and Yixing laughed at him. “He said he wanted to sleep with me? What the fuck?”

“Do you really think that’s such a random thing for _Junmyeon_ to say?”

Now that that had been brought to Jongdae’s attention, no, he didn’t think it was too random. Junmyeon was thirsty as hell. “Well-- okay, whatever, that’s still weird because it’s me. I didn’t think he knew who I was.”

“You told me he bought you shit!”

“I think he buys people shit all the time! He’s related to the royal family or something!”

“Jongdae!” Yixing was laughing into the phone and it calmed Jongdae a little bit. Jongdae looked over to the mirror in his room and the pout on his face made him feel foolish. He didn’t know why he was being so adverse to this entire situation. “Can you let me finish my story? At this rate you’re going to cry when I get to the end of it.”

“I will not,” Jongdae said indignantly.

“Sure. Listening to you react like this makes me feel bad for saying what I did to him.”

“Don’t say things like that, Yixing, just say it out loud!” Jongdae raised his voice but couldn’t keep himself from laughing at how silly this felt to him. Yixing was infuriating but it was kind of cracking him up and he didn’t entirely hate it.

“Alright, I said this before I remembered how much of a virgin you are, so don’t hate me.”

Jongdae sputtered over a few words before actually being able to say something. “Yixing we’ve had sex!” He felt like he said that a lot louder than he needed to, and glanced over to his bedroom door for a moment. “I’m not a fucking virgin!”

“I know that, that’s not what I meant! I meant-- in other ways.” Yixing chuckled. “I figure you’re just starting out.”

Jongdae didn’t know whether or not to be insulted but he wasn’t going to think about it too hard. “Okay, fine, I’m an innocent little virgin.”

“Terrible, don’t ever say that again. I told Junmyeon you might want to have a threesome with us.”

Jongdae would have thrown his phone across the room if his brain had been able to comprehend what Yixing had just told him. After a moment it clicked and he squawked into his phone. “Yixing, why the fuck would you do that?!”

“Because I know you like him!” Yixing was laughing through the words and Jongdae didn’t know if he thought it was cute or disgusting.

“What the _fuck_ are you talking about?! I do not!”

“What the fuck are _you_ talking about? Don’t try to lie to me Jongdae! You talk about him all the damn time, you definitely like him!”

Jongdae huffed to himself. He was pretty sure his crush on Junmyeon was just on his stupid handsome face and nothing else but apparently Yixing had picked up on something else. Jongdae hated how he always needed his friends to alert him of things happening in his own fucking life. “Okay, fine, I think he’s hot! That doesn’t mean you can tell him lies! I’ve never thought about a threesome with him and-- and you before, never, never ever in my life.”

“I figured that, since you’re a virgin,” Yixing said sardonically, and Jongdae wanted to throw his phone again.

“Not what I was trying to convey.”

“Sorry. Well Junmyeon’s all excited to have a threesome with us now, so I guess we’ll have to tell him you’re not on board.”

Jongdae almost choked on the air he was inhaling. “He wants to fucking do it?”

“Of course he does, he’s a slut!”

“Yixing! I don’t know!” Jongdae whined a little out of pure frustration. “I’ve never had a threesome before.”

“I know,” Yixing said with a laugh. Jongdae rolled his eyes and forced himself not to comment on it.

“I don’t think I can do it,” Jongdae said.

“Why not?”

“Because...” Just the thought of seeing Junmyeon and Yixing naked at the same time made his dick try to backflip and Jongdae didn’t know how he was going to survive this. If he had a threesome with them there was no doubt he was going to cum five seconds into it. He was in no way prepared for this. “Because that’s just, that’s a lot of hot guy all at once. I’ve never. I mean. It’s just new.”

Yixing chuckled a little and Jongdae took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. “If you don’t want to do it, that’s fine too.”

“I’m curious now,” Jongdae blurted out, and could feel himself going red. He was thankful that Yixing wasn’t there in the room with him to laugh at his face. “You can’t just-- just dangle that in front of me and take it away.”

“So you do want to do it.”

“I-- I want to talk to Junmyeon! I want to know what he’s fucking thinking!” Jongdae scowled and threw himself down onto his pillow, looking up at his ceiling. “This is so sudden and I don’t know how to react to it!”

“If you end up talking to Junmyeon and telling him you want to fuck, tell me so we can figure out a day. You’ll have fun.”

“Do you even want to do this?” Jongdae asked.

“I will jump at any chance to fuck you,” Yixing said smoothly, and Jongdae felt his breath hitch in his throat. Ugh sometimes Yixing made his heart flutter and it always made Jongdae feel foolish.

He pursed his lips and tapped at his phone. “Okay, cool. I-- I like sleeping with you too.”

“Junmyeon will just be a decoration, to be honest.”

Jongdae snorted. “I’m sure. I don’t know how he’d feel about that.” He sighed then, feeling as if he had a huge problem to tackle now. “I’m going to call him, okay, and I’ll talk to him about this. And when I see you at work I’ll tell you what happened.”

“Fuck, we have work soon, don’t we?” Yixing wondered, and Jongdae laughed at him.

“Yeah, in less than an hour!”

“Alright then, I’ll see you. Thanks for not smacking me over the phone.”

“I wouldn’t smack you,” Jongdae mumbled. “I like this.”

Jongdae could hear a little smile in Yixing’s voice and he appreciated it. “Good. See you later.”

“See you,” Jongdae said, and then he pulled his phone away to turn the call off. He stared at his phone for a moment and then sighed heavily, going into his contacts and finding Junmyeon’s name. Maybe he should just wait until he got to work? No, he wasn’t sure that Junmyeon would be there tonight, and he wanted to get this over with.

 _What the fuck am I doing?_ he wondered as he hugged his knees close to his chest with the phone pressed up against his ear. He listened to Junmyeon’s dial tone and calmed down. This probably wasn’t going to be painful, since apparently Junmyeon liked him. Maybe it would be really endearing. When Junmyeon answered the phone Jongdae remembered he was calling him to ask him about a _threesome_ and he felt weak.

“Jongdae?” Junmyeon asked excitedly, and Jongdae felt himself grinning just from the way Junmyeon sounded.

“Hey, sorry if it’s a bad time.”

“No, it’s fine! I’m just out with friends but I can get away right now, uhm, give me a moment. Are you well?” Jongdae listened to Junmyeon talking to someone else away from his phone and Jongdae decided to just wait until he was free. After a moment Junmyeon returned to the call and Jongdae kept smiling. “I’m sorry about that. What’s up?”

“Yixing told me something funny!” Jongdae opened, and he heard Junmyeon laugh.

“Oh dear.”

“Yeah! I think you know!”

“If you’re talking about the conversation I had with him last night then yes, I know what you’re talking about.”

“So where the hell did this idea come from?” Jongdae asked, and then he heard another voice that wasn’t Junmyeon’s yelling in the background of the call.

“It...fuck. Can you give me a second, I’m on the phone!” Junmyeon said, and it took Jongdae a moment to realize he was talking to somebody he was with and not to Jongdae. Jongdae laughed a little as he listened to Junmyeon argue with his friend. “I’m on the phone! Yes I’m talking to a boy!” Jongdae laughed at how Junmyeon didn’t bother to pull away from the phone. “Leave me alone please!”

Junmyeon seemed to scare his friend off and then sighed heavily into the phone. “I’m so sorry, Jongdae, my friends are loud.”

“It’s fine, really, I’m in no hurry.” Jongdae glanced over to his clock and saw it was ten minutes after seven. Fuck he had to get ready for work soon. He wondered if he could make this short.

“I’m sorry. What was the last thing you said?”

“Uhh. I think I asked you why you want to have a threesome with Yixing and I.”

Junmyeon laughed airily and Jongdae thought the sound was high-pitched and cuter than what he had expected. “Ahh, well, I wanted to sleep with you but Yixing insisted.”

Jongdae held back a snort. Yixing had conveniently left that part out of his story. “Why though?”

“Because I like you,” Junmyeon said easily, and Jongdae fell back down to his bed. Oh that was such a weird thing for him to hear, he never knew how to deal with it. Why would Junmyeon like him? Boys didn’t like him. Jongdae was just kind of there, not drawing any attention to himself, at least not at the fucking strip club. There were lots of other things to look at at the strip club.

The thought that maybe Junmyeon had looked at everything in the strip club already entered his brain but Jongdae tried to shake it away. That was gross, he shouldn’t assume that Junmyeon was just trying to nail his way through the entire building. “Ah, Junmyeon, that’s really sweet. I don’t understand but I’m flattered.”

“Awh, Jongdae, don’t be like that. You’re cute.”

Jongdae groaned into the phone and Junmyeon laughed at him. “Thank you! God, when you say that I don’t know how to respond!”

“I think you’re responding well enough.”

“I didn’t even think you knew who I was,” Jongdae said. “I thought.” Well he thought that Junmyeon was too drunk most of the time to remember anything, but he couldn’t just say that. “I thought you liked strippers.”

Junmyeon made a laughy sound that Jongdae would’ve mistaken for a strangled sob if he hadn’t known better. “Uhm, I have a variety of tastes, I think.”

“Well I’m flattered.”

“You were so charming when we went shopping, I’ve been thinking about you a lot ever since.” Jongdae felt butterflies forming in his stomach and he wanted to flail about on his bed for a while. Fuck Junmyeon just said such a cute thing to him. Fuck Junmyeon.

He was going to do that. “I’m no good at flirting, I don’t think.”  
  
“I think you’re _very_ good.”

Oh god. Jongdae really didn’t know how to respond to that. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I’ve never had a threesome before.”

“That’s what Yixing said. It’s really not that scary.”

Jongdae nearly burst out laughing because of course everyone but him had had group sex before. Of course. “I’m not scared. I was just kind of confused but now I feel excited.”

“Do you want to do it? Really?”

“I don’t really know you,” Jongdae said shortly. “But. I guess this is a good way to do that.”

“I don’t bite unless you’re into that,” Junmyeon said, and Jongdae blinked. He was pretty sure he was into that. Cool.

“Okay, good. I’ll try not to be awkward as fuck. Are you coming to work tonight?” He laughed at himself. “I mean, to the club. You don’t work there.”

“I’m out with people tonight but I can make an appearance later in the night if you want me to.”

“No, if you’re out with friends I don’t wanna take you from that. I’ll just see you sometime when you come visit. And I’ll talk to Yixing.”

“Yixing is so hot,” Junmyeon said randomly, and Jongdae coughed out a laugh.

“You’re right, he is.”

“I’m really excited to see him. And you, of course.”

“Me too.” Jongdae bit his lip to keep from grinning like an idiot. “I really should go to work now but I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Alright, have fun at work. Thanks for calling me.”

“Of course. Thanks for this sudden threesome!”

“Anytime! Bye, Jongdae,” Junmyeon said warmly, and when he shut the call off Jongdae sat there for a few moments, frozen in place.

When Jongdae came back to reality he dropped his phone to his bed, stared up at the ceiling, and then screamed without making a sound, flailing his arms about. Junmyeon was one of the hottest guys he had ever met and he _liked_ him. Jongdae had never gotten attention from someone so attractive before. Holy shit. He was going to have sex with this hot guy and maybe if he was smooth enough he could get a date or something through it.

His dick was rock hard at the idea but he didn’t have the time to deal with it, instead just hoping it would go down by itself. He picked his phone up once more, feeling as if he needed to send Yixing a thank you text or _something_ , but as soon as this thought entered his brain he stopped. Fuck. Yixing was really hot too. Did Yixing like him?

Jongdae’s heart nearly exploded at the thought of two guys being interested in him. No, he was mostly sure Yixing was just a really fun fuck buddy. Jongdae liked him, he had come to terms with that, but Yixing didn’t seem to be relationship-oriented. Right? Jongdae groaned and dropped down to his bed. Good lord what was happening to him right now? Was he really going to have a threesome with two guys who liked him?

One and a half guys who liked him, maybe. Yixing liked having sex with him but he didn’t like Jongdae, that was just wishful thinking. Jongdae sat up from his bed and scowled at himself. There’s no way Yixing could like him. Yixing was older and seemed to have his life together, he wasn't going to waste his time with some college kid. He just liked fucking him.

Jongdae got up from bed to get ready for work, and frowned the entire way, feeling emptier than before. He thought he was going to be excited after all of these new developments but now he just felt down. Apparently the realization that Yixing just wanted to fuck him hurt more than he thought it was going to. Maybe going to work would cheer him up, he thought as he pulled his leather jacket over his shoulders. He was going to wear this and look hot tonight. He felt attractive, because Junmyeon liked him, and he wanted to sleep with him. Good. That’s the kind of confidence he needed.

 

 


	16. (nsfw) jongdae has a threesome and is overwhelmed

Saturday night was when they all had decided to meet up to sleep together, and when Saturday night rolled around Jongdae was kind of freaking out. It was a half an hour until closing time and Jongdae was sitting backstage at work, bored from how uneventful his day was but nearly jumping out of his seat from excitement. He had always considered himself a dorky little teenager but he was having a threesome with two hot guys tonight. He couldn’t believe his luck. He wouldn’t dare tell anyone at work, though, because he didn’t know how well they’d take it.

He was anxious about the sex he was going to have tonight but he was more excited than anything. He had watched what he thought was a sufficient amount of threesome porn in order to prepare himself, and all he had really learned was that there were going to be a lot of dicks and he was afraid of double penetration. He was pretty sure Junmyeon and Yixing wouldn’t try to get him to do that, but if they did he would turn it down. It looked scary and he wanted no part in that right now.

Junmyeon hadn’t come to the club tonight, he had texted their new group chat about having to go out with his friends from school, but he said he would show up to Yixing’s apartment afterwards. Jongdae was glad they were going to be going back to Yixing’s apartment instead of Junmyeon’s, since he was more familiar with the area. Junmyeon had mentioned having a roommate that he didn’t want to bother with the noise at 2am, and Jongdae wondered how noisy they would be.

Yixing came backstage through the hallway that led from the dressing rooms, and Jongdae noticed Jongin scramble to pull his headphones out of his ears. “Yixing,” he called out.

“What’s up?” Yixing asked him on his way over to sit in Hakyeon’s chair. Hakyeon hadn’t been at work in a couple days and Jongdae had been meaning to text him and figure out where he was, but he kept forgetting to. He probably had a virus or was on vacation or something, Jongdae didn’t know. In his absence Yixing had adopted his chair, and Jongdae was fine with that, since Jongdae usually sat at Tao’s and the two spots were close.

“We have to dance our thing together tonight, right?” Jongin asked, and Yixing nodded.

“We have to go on in like ten minutes.”

Jongin groaned out loud and the sound made Yixing cackle. “Oh, I really don’t feel like doing that tonight.”

“What, what’s wrong with me, Jongin? You don’t like dancing on me?” Yixing gave him a playful expression and Jongin returned it with a quiet smile.

“That’s not it at all. I just don’t like it when we dance together and I get hard onstage.” Jongin swallowed. “I don’t like it when my shorts look all tight in front of the audience.”

“That’s the point, Jongin.”

“It still makes me feel shy.” Jongin sighed a little and Jongdae smiled at him.

“Try to think of the grossest thing you can while dancing. Like...think of your grandmother taking a mud bath. Or think of your grandmother having sex with someone.”

“Think of your grandmother having sex with me,” Yixing offered, and Jongdae snorted.

“Don’t subject him to that.”

“I won’t think of any of those things,” Jongin laughed, his eyes looking more animated than before. “I’ll just try to get it over with.”

“That’s a good way to handle our job, to be honest. Get it over with.” Yixing nodded and Jongdae laughed at him.

“I thought you liked working here.”

“I love working here and you’ll never find me talking shit about this club,” Yixing told Jongdae with a little twinkle in his eye, and Jongdae barked out a laugh at him.

“You think you can get away with so much.”

“I know I can get away with so much.” Yixing’s phone went off and he glanced at it. “Fuck, when am I supposed to go on?” He grunted and silenced his phone, getting up from his seat. “I’m gonna walk around until we go on, is that alright, Jongin?”

“That’s fine,” Jongin said, and Yixing waved at him a little before walking past him to leave out the curtain. Jongdae glanced over at Jongin and smiled a little.

“Are you doing anything fun this weekend?”

“I think I’m going to see a movie with Kyungsoo,” Jongin said quickly, and then his eyes widened as if he had just said something he shouldn’t have. He eyed Jongdae carefully and Jongdae just smiled, undeterred. Jongdae had gotten used to Jongin’s transition from Junmyeon to Kyungsoo pretty quickly, since he saw how Jongin’s eyes lit up so brightly every time he talked about Kyungsoo. He seemed to be a better fit with him than Junmyeon was, and according to what Jongdae was going to be doing tonight, Junmyeon was over it by now. As long as nobody was hurt Jongdae was fine with it.

“Ahh, that sounds really fun. Do you know which one?”

“We haven’t decided yet, I think we’re just gonna go to the theater and pick something out there.”

“That’s fun too.”

“Mhm.” Jongin gave Jongdae a very cute smile and Jongdae wanted to get up and hug him. Jongin was so pure and sweet, Jongdae didn’t know how the hell he could be mad at him like he wanted to be at first.

Jongdae watched Jongin pace around anxiously for a while before his performance with Yixing, and when Jongin eventually left through the curtain Jongdae was left backstage by himself. Mostly everyone else had gone home as soon as they were done for the night, and Jongdae thought that the club felt kind of dead for a Saturday night. Apparently everyone was out living their lives. He had finished his homework during the day in anticipation of being busy tonight, so he had nothing to do.

He opened a Pokémon game emulator on his computer and started to play it, and he hadn’t gotten far when suddenly there was a burst of activity backstage because they were closing. Jongdae jumped up from his seat and started to wander around the club with his mop like he was used to doing at the end of the night. Luckily there wasn’t anything huge to clean and he was able to finish quickly, and when he rolled his mop bucket backstage Yixing was sitting in Hakyeon’s chair with his legs spread, fully clothed for once and making a quizzical expression that made Jongdae laugh.

“What are you doing?” Jongdae asked him, and Yixing snorted.

“Waiting for you,” he replied. “Since you take so damn long every night.”  
  
“It’s a part of my job,” Jongdae said as he tucked the mop bucket into his closet. “I have to walk around cleaning everything at the end of the night. You know that.”

“You don’t have to do it so slowly,” Yixing said, and Jongdae rolled his eyes, fighting a grin. He went over to Tao’s desk to gather his things and Yixing watched him quietly.

When he had packed everything away into his backpack he threw it over his shoulders and turned around, smiling at Yixing and feeling like an excited child on the first day of school. “Are you ready?”

“Born ready. Let’s go,” Yixing said, getting up from his chair and leading Jongdae out of the club. They went out onto the street and Jongdae watched Yixing hailing a cab for them with a small smile at how familiar the scene felt. Yixing was funny as he hopped around with one arm waving in the air, and once a cab pulled up to them Yixing turned around to grin hugely at Jongdae, and Jongdae couldn’t help but return the expression. They got into the car together and Yixing told the driver where to go.

“I need to wake myself up,” Yixing said, slapping both sides of his face with both hands.  
  
Jongdae smiled a little at him. “Should we stop at a store and get you some coffee before going home?”

“No, I can manage it. Fuck, I just got so tired today. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’ll wake up once we get back home.” Yixing nodded, and then turned to look at Jongdae. “I’ve been thinking about this all damn day.”

Jongdae laughed breathlessly. “Me too.”

“I cleaned my apartment today because I knew people would be over. I hope it’s to your liking.”

Jongdae scoffed at him and lifted a hand to weakly swat Yixing’s shoulder. “You know I’ve never cared about how _mildly messy_ your apartment is.”

“I can feel you lying, you’re lying!” Yixing looked away from Jongdae but Jongdae could see the side of his mouth perk up in a smile. “I wanna see your place, so I can judge how clean it is.”

Jongdae choked back an indignant sound. “If I don’t care what your place looks like then you shouldn’t care about mine!” Yixing just sat back against his seat with a smirk and Jongdae laughed at him. “Don’t be like this! Ahh. My room at school is so small, you’d feel like you were suffocating.”

“Really? You think so?” Yixing looked at him with big eyes and Jongdae thought his expression was adorable. He swallowed a little and managed to smile at him.

“Yeah, I think so. It’s not much bigger than one of the dressing rooms at work.”

Yixing made a sound of surprise. “Really? Are you serious? That’s not big at all.”

“It has a desk, my bed, and my keyboard, and not much else.”

“You don’t have a roommate?”

“No, I had a roommate my first two years but I got a single this year. I like it a lot, since I’m kind of loud and I thought I bothered my last two roommates.” Jongdae laughed a little and Yixing gave him a slow smile.

“That’s good that you got a single, then.”

“I still think I bother people with my singing, since the walls aren’t as thick as they could be. But nobody’s come knocking on my door telling me to shut up in a while so I think I’m good.”

Yixing laughed loudly. “People have actually yelled at you before?”

Jongdae pursed his lips. “Not yelled, more like asked me to quiet down since it was late.”

“Ahh, you shouldn’t be belting late at night, Jongdae.”

Jongdae sputtered a bit. “I am not! And you’re the one who made me sing in your apartment at like 3am that one night, you’re the influence!”

Yixing leaned his head back as he laughed and Jongdae enjoyed watching the way his Adam’s apple stretched on his throat. “I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe you’re right.”

“Yixing, I wanna ask you something,” Jongdae said, adjusting his seat a little bit and eyeing Yixing when Yixing motioned for him to scoot closer. He did so and Yixing put his arm around Jongdae’s shoulders, and Jongdae felt a little more comfortable than he thought he would. He was really getting used to Yixing’s casual touches, and he liked that. It probably had something to do with him _liking_ Yixing now. Whenever Jongdae thought about that he felt a little foolish. He had promised himself not to let his feelings develop tonight, and was going to try to hold himself to that.

“What’s that?” Yixing asked.

“You don’t like Junmyeon much, do you? Why did you agree to this?” Jongdae asked, and he watched the side of Yixing’s mouth curl in a smile that looked like it was going to burst into laughter at any moment.

“That’s not true, not true at all. I like Junmyeon just fine.”

“But you get kinda stiff when I talk about him, and I never see you hanging out with him at work.”

“That’s because I work hard,” Yixing pointed out, and Jongdae snorted.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“He used to not talk to me because I scared him. His words, not mine,” Yixing laughed, and Jongdae knocked his head against Yixing’s shoulder.

“Wuh, you kinda used to scare me, too. Junmyeon just doesn’t know you.”

“I’m really not that damn scary, I don’t know why you twinks are all afraid of me,” Yixing said, and Jongdae laughed at him.

“You’re kind of intimidating, with the way you walk up to people and demand them to let you dance on them.”

“I did that once -- _once_ \-- and you won’t let me live it down.”

“I thought it was really funny.”

“I’m glad to entertain you then. No, I don’t dislike Junmyeon. I’m going to fucking sleep with him tonight, Jongdae,” Yixing said, and then eyed the cab driver carefully as if he didn’t want to get kicked out of the car for being vulgar. “He sends a lot of fucking snapchats but that doesn’t bother me too much.”

Jongdae laughed airily at that. The last thing Yixing had sent him on Snapchat was that picture of his abs, and Jongdae had figured he had forgotten about the app already. He seemed the type to get bored of things quickly. Jongdae wondered how many snapchats he had piled up from Junmyeon and laughed again. “Okay, I thought you didn’t like him for some reason.”

“I tend to like everyone, I think,” Yixing said, and Jongdae blinked at him.

“For some reason I don’t think that’s true.”

Yixing laughed. “Who do you get vibes from? Who do you not think I like?”

“T...Tao?” Jongdae questioned, and Yixing laughed again.

“I think Tao’s hilarious! You’re just projecting, since you don’t like him.”

Jongdae made a sound of dissent. “That’s not true, not true! I like Tao a lot! I just think he can be kind of mean sometimes, that’s all. But I’ve always liked Tao. I like everyone at work.”

“Yeah, I know that.” Yixing smiled a little. “You get along with everyone.”

“I try my best.” Jongdae looked out the window of the cab and relaxed against Yixing’s shoulder. It was after two in the morning and the weight of the day was starting to get to him. He had taken a nap earlier today, so he figured he would be fine. “Should we tell Junmyeon to come over soon?”

“I’ll text him when we get to my place,” Yixing nodded, and Jongdae made a sound to agree with him. Yixing patted his arm slowly with the hand around Jongdae’s shoulder and Jongdae let himself melt into the feeling. He thought perhaps he was going to fall asleep right there next to Yixing, so when he opened his eyes once more and found them parked on the street he wasn’t too surprised. He watched Yixing pay the cab driver and then hustled out of the car, straightening out his clothes when he was out on the street.

He watched Yixing flail around as he went up to his apartment building to input his code into the lock, and smiled when Yixing held the door open for him. Yixing led him up to his apartment and when Jongdae went inside he noted that the weed smell he was used to was a little more faded than usual. He pondered how many times he had been in Yixing’s apartment as Yixing kicked off his shoes and went into his room to drop off his bag.

Jongdae kicked off his own shoes and brought himself to the couch to sit down and place his backpack there. He thought about it and then took out his laptop, moving to plug it into the wall so it would be charged for tomorrow. When he was done he looked up to see Yixing sitting on the couch with a smile on his face.

“Should we text Junmyeon now?” Jongdae asked, feeling impatient, and Yixing barked out a rough laugh.

“Yeah, I’ll tell him to come over.” Yixing pulled out his phone to text Junmyeon and Jongdae got up to sit on the couch next to him. He watched Yixing move his fingers slowly across the touchscreen, and once the text was sent he felt his own phone buzz since Yixing had sent it to their group chat. He didn’t bother to check it, already knowing it wasn’t for him, and he scooted a little bit closer to Yixing on the couch.

Before Jongdae could open his mouth to ask Yixing if it was okay for him to sleep over tonight, Yixing had turned his head and put his lips on Jongdae’s. Jongdae felt himself go a little bit weak and folded entirely into Yixing’s arms, feeling warm and in the perfect spot. He didn’t think his relationship with Yixing was going to go anywhere but it was nice to have him here to himself regardless. He tried to promise himself to not get too attached.

Yixing was the best kisser Jongdae had ever had the privilege of kissing though, and he didn’t know how long he was going to hold out for. Before long he had climbed into Yixing’s lap to get a better position to make out with him in, and Yixing moved his hands to the back of Jongdae’s neck, holding him close and angling his head the perfect way. They sat like that for a while, kissing each other in the silence of the room, and when Yixing pulled away for a moment Jongdae tried to breathe.

“I wanna suck your dick,” Yixing said with a muted smirk, and Jongdae sighed heavily. “Can I do that?”

“Oh...I don’t know.” Jongdae was excited and figured he would be able to get an erection in five seconds flat, but he had been trying to save all of his horniness for the threesome, as ridiculous as that sounded. He had been able to refrain from masturbating too much while studying all the threesome porn. “I don’t know. I think if I cum too much tonight I might pass out.”

Apparently Yixing found this very humorous, and he patted his hand against Jongdae’s back as he laughed. “Awh, come on, we should start now.”

“Can we wait?” Jongdae asked, and Yixing nodded stiffly.

“Sure, that’s fine.”

“Let me suck yours,” Jongdae requested, slipping out of Yixing’s lap and moving onto the floor on his knees in front of Yixing.

Yixing grinned at him. “Well how am I supposed to deny that?” He moved his hands down to undo his pants and squirm to push them down. He took his underwear down with them and when Jongdae was face to face with Yixing’s barely hard dick he laughed nervously, moving to take it in his hand.

Jongdae jerked Yixing’s cock a little bit until it started to stand up on its own, and then moved his head to spit on the tip. He brought his hand back to move it up and down, jerking Yixing’s dick and getting it wet all over, and Yixing moaned softly. Jongdae watched his face for a moment and then spit on his dick again, remembering Yixing telling him that he liked it wet. He was going to get good at sucking Yixing’s dick if it was the last thing he did.

He took the tip of Yixing’s cock into his mouth and twirled his tongue around the head, listening to the soft breathing sounds Yixing was making. He moved very slowly and methodically, trying to drag everything out as much he could as if this was a preview for the rest of the night. Yixing seemed to appreciate the slow movements and Jongdae appreciated that he wasn’t raring to fuck his throat right from the start.

Jongdae moved his mouth away and stroked Yixing’s cock with his hand until it was as rock hard as it was going to get, and then he smirked up at Yixing quietly. Yixing whistled at him and Jongdae laughed. “Ahh, what’s that for?”

“You look so hot right now,” Yixing crooned, and Jongdae laughed, closing his eyes. He was bad at handling praise, especially when it came from Yixing’s lips. He responded by taking Yixing’s dick back into his mouth and Yixing seemed more than okay with that. He sucked it as languidly as he could, trying to make Yixing feel every movement he made, and Yixing groaned loudly when Jongdae moved up to suck hard on the tip of his cock. “Oh, god, baby.”

Jongdae was impressed with how long Yixing could hold on for without having an orgasm, but then figured that Yixing was older and way more experienced than him. Jongdae was going to have to do something about his own stamina problems. He took Yixing’s cock deep into his throat again and before Yixing could make another strangled moan there was a knock on their door, and both Yixing and Jongdae jumped a little.

“Fuck, he was closer than I thought he would be,” Yixing breathed as Jongdae pulled off of him. Yixing pulled his boxers up and tucked his erection into them, but pushed his pants down far enough so he could kick out of them. Jongdae laughed at the discarded garment on the floor and moved up to sit on the couch as Yixing went to answer the door.

Jongdae wiped his mouth on his sleeve and tried to make himself look like he hadn’t just been sucking dick, but when comparing his own outfit to Yixing’s he assumed Junmyeon would know something was up. Yixing opened the door and Junmyeon was standing there with a wide, doofy grin, and Jongdae felt his heart skip a beat when he saw how nicely dressed Junmyeon was. Junmyeon always dressed so nicely, and Jongdae had grown to think that was something he was really attracted to. The shoulders on Junmyeon’s blazer looked like they had some padding in them to make him look more intimidating, and Jongdae laughed a little, studying how the lavender dress shirt he was wearing looked tight around his chest.

“You got here really fast,” Yixing told him as he stepped aside to let Junmyeon inside. Junmyeon seemed a little distracted by Yixing’s lack of an outfit and even more distracted when he noticed Yixing’s obvious erection, but he stepped inside and grinned at Jongdae anyway.

“Yeah, my friend lives around here, it wasn’t far at all.”

“Awesome. We were just starting without you,” Yixing said casually, and Jongdae whined at him. Yixing smirked and Junmyeon just smiled at Jongdae.

“Awh, that’s fun.”

“You look nice,” Jongdae called out to Junmyeon, suddenly feeling shy, and Junmyeon beamed at him.

“Thank you!”

“Do you want anything to drink?” Yixing asked Junmyeon, and Junmyeon blinked at him.

“Uhm, uhh. Could I have a glass of water?”

“Sure. Are you drunk?”

“I had a beer earlier tonight but I’m fine,” Junmyeon said with a nod, and Yixing returned the nod before going into the kitchen. Junmyeon walked further into the room to sit down on the couch next to Jongdae, and Jongdae welcomed him.

“Did you have a good day?” Jongdae asked, and Junmyeon nodded.

“I did! Kind of boring but a good day nonetheless.”

“Yeah, my day was kind of boring too,” Jongdae told him.

“Your lips are kind of red,” Junmyeon lifted a hand to point a finger at Jongdae’s mouth, and Jongdae felt himself blushing a bit. Junmyeon grinned at him and put his hand down. “Can I ask you something?”

“Go for it,” Jongdae said.

“Are you and Yixing dating?” Junmyeon asked, and Jongdae noted that he had dropped his voice a bit so Yixing wouldn’t hear him. Jongdae blinked and shook his head.

“Uhm, no, no we’re not.” Jongdae told him.

Junmyeon grinned at him. “Good.”

Jongdae could tell he was going bright red and he had no idea how to respond, and was thankful when Junmyeon’s phone went off to signal that he got a text message. Jongdae recognized his text tone as Lim Kim song, and he made a sound of surprise as Junmyeon pulled out his phone to look at it. “You listen to Korean music?”

“I am obsessed with this song,” Junmyeon admitted with a smile, putting his phone away after he had checked the message. “Yeah, I listen to some Korean music, my roommate plays some around the house.”

“That’s awesome. I don’t listen to as much as I should but I know Lim Kim. That’s from the new album.”

“Yeah, it is!” Junmyeon smiled as Yixing returned from the kitchen with a glass of water. He handed it to Junmyeon and looked at Jongdae with an expression Jongdae didn’t know how to read. Jongdae blinked at him as Junmyeon took a long sip of his water, and then Jongdae felt Junmyeon staring at the tattoo on his wrist. He flailed his hands a little bit but Junmyeon’s attention didn’t waver, and Jongdae thought back to how Junmyeon had identified it correctly that one time they had talked to each other a while ago. He had always liked that. Maybe that was why he liked Junmyeon so much, they listened to a lot of the same music.

Yixing cleared his throat and when Jongdae looked up to him he remembered how Yixing listened to a lot of Frank Ocean. His friends had good music taste. “I’m hard as hell so I kind of want to get busy,” Yixing said. Jongdae laughed a little.

“Alright,” Junmyeon said after taking another sip of his water. He stood up and shook his limbs out for a moment, and when Yixing put his hand on Junmyeon’s chin and guided his lips towards his Jongdae saw Junmyeon’s eyes go wide. Jongdae laughed shortly as Yixing kissed Junmyeon, and watched Junmyeon try to relax against Yixing. Yixing didn’t give him time to calm down before he had pulled away from him.

“Why are you afraid of me?” Yixing asked, his hand still on Junmyeon’s chin, and Junmyeon laughed once, the sound kind of strangled and nervous.

“I am not afraid of you.”

“Fine, why are you intimidated by me?”

Junmyeon made a scoff-like sound. “You’re kind of in-your-face and I guess I’m not used to that. But I’m not afraid of you, Yixing. I’m getting used to you.”

Yixing smirked and moved Junmyeon’s head to either side as if he was studying his jawline. “Good, good.” He leaned in to kiss him once more and Jongdae could feel his heart fluttering. This was really, really happening. Yixing pulled away from Junmyeon and then patted his cheek. “My bedroom’s over here.”

“I’ll show him,” Jongdae jumped up from the couch and scurried towards Yixing’s bedroom door, and Yixing laughed at the movement. Jongdae went into his bedroom and Junmyeon followed close behind, and then Yixing closed the door behind them after entering. Jongdae went over to the bed to sit down on the end of it, and as Junmyeon pulled his blazer off Yixing walked up behind him and kissed his neck.

Junmyeon moved his head to the side to let Yixing’s lips on his skin and Jongdae watched them. Junmyeon dropped his blazer to the floor and Yixing raised his hands to Junmyeon’s throat, trying to loosen the knot of his dark purple tie. Junmyeon closed his eyes and Jongdae thought that the curve of his neck was spectacular, especially when Yixing was leaving little red marks up and down it. He felt his pants start to get tight and he loosened them, feeling his dick trying to stand at attention like it had been earlier when he was sucking Yixing off.

Junmyeon made a soft breathy sound as Yixing sucked a hickey into his neck, and then Yixing pulled away, pushing Junmyeon a tiny bit forward and swatting his ass gently. Junmyeon laughed and Yixing moved over to the bed to lean down and kiss Jongdae.

Jongdae was more than willing to let this happen, and he closed his eyes as Yixing’s tongue moved around his mouth. Yixing knew the perfect way to make Jongdae’s blood run hot and Jongdae was starting to get addicted to the feeling. He let Yixing lean down to take the hem of Jongdae’s t-shirt into his hands and pull it up over his head.

When Jongdae glanced over at Junmyeon he saw that Junmyeon had undone his tie and the buttons of his dress shirt already. Junmyeon shrugged out of his shirt and Jongdae was surprised at how toned he was. He had assumed Junmyeon would be kind of cute and soft looking underneath his clothes but he was not very soft looking at all, Jongdae thought as he glanced over the muscles on Junmyeon’s arms and his broad shoulders. Holy shit he was hot. He was hot! So hot! Jongdae thought he was going to pass out already.

He was shirtless in a room with two other shirtless guys and it was exhilarating. Junmyeon started to undo his belt and Yixing pushed Jongdae back onto the bed, and Jongdae was more than willing to lay there staring up at the ceiling while Yixing started to pull his pants down. When he felt his pants around his ankles he kicked out of them, and looked up to see both Yixing and Junmyeon observing his erection straining at his boxers.

Jongdae felt himself go red while they were looking at him, and Junmyeon smiled at him. “You’re really good-looking, Jongdae.”

Jongdae sputtered a little bit. “Th-thank you. You’re really hot too.”

Yixing just smirked at him and moved in to kiss him once more, and before Jongdae closed his eyes he saw Junmyeon pulling the zipper of his slacks down to let himself free.

Yixing kissed Jongdae for a few moments longer, and when he pulled away Jongdae was damn near panting at him. Yixing laughed at him shortly and motioned at him, looking over at Junmyeon. “Hey, wanna suck his dick?”

Jongdae felt his heart doing a flip as Junmyeon grinned at him and came over. “Mm, I really do.” He dropped to his knees in front of Jongdae on the ground and Jongdae’s dick tried to jump out of his boxers. Junmyeon put his hand on the fabric and Jongdae hissed softly, trying not to cum right there. He noticed the wet spot of precum that had pooled at the front of his boxers and felt himself blushing more.

“You’re really sexy. I can’t wait to have you,” Junmyeon said with a little smile, and Jongdae nodded slowly, trying to show how excited he was but feeling totally overwhelmed by the situation. Junmyeon pulled his boxers down until they were around Jongdae’s ankles and Jongdae kicked out of them quickly before Junmyeon put his mouth on Jongdae’s cock, wasting no time.

Jongdae moaned and Yixing climbed up on the bed next to him, sitting up and touching himself from over his underwear. Jongdae watched him, feeling his chest rising and falling as Junmyeon got his mouth acquainted to Jongdae’s dick. Junmyeon’s tongue felt incredible and Jongdae liked how Junmyeon moved up every now and then to spit on his cock and then rub it up and down rapidly in his hand. Jongdae didn’t know if he liked Junmyeon’s mouth or his hand more, which made the entire thing really stimulating. He had no idea how he was going to last all night.

Junmyeon moaned a little when he took all of Jongdae’s cock into his mouth, and Jongdae groaned loudly at the vibration. Junmyeon looked up at him with a smarmy look in his eye as he bobbed his head up and down on Jongdae’s cock. He swirled his tongue around and around and Jongdae still couldn’t believe this was happening. Yixing was three inches away from him touching himself while watching Jongdae get his dick sucked. This was a fantasy come to life and Jongdae had no idea how he was so lucky.

Junmyeon swallowed around Jongdae’s cock when it hit the back of his throat and Jongdae moaned loudly, unable to help himself. Yixing seemed to like the sound a lot and he reached down to pet at Jongdae’s hair softly, and Jongdae smiled a little. “Ahh, ahh.”

“It feels good, hm?” Yixing asked, and Jongdae nodded.

“Really good. Junmyeon is good. Fuck!” Jongdae cursed when Junmyeon rubbed his tongue up and down the underside of Jongdae’s cock. Junmyeon put his elbows on the bed and gripped Jongdae’s hips lightly, and the sudden touch made Jongdae thrust his hips up a bit. Junmyeon made a soft laughy sound that sent shivers down Jongdae’s spine and straight towards his dick.

He liked looking at Junmyeon’s toned arms as Junmyeon bobbed up and down on his cock, and whenever Junmyeon moaned around him, Jongdae moaned too. Jongdae moved his hands to put on top of Junmyeon’s head after a while, moving a little awkwardly when he felt Junmyeon’s dried hair gel. He didn’t want to mess up Junmyeon’s hair but he didn’t know how he was going to avoid that. He gripped his hair in both hands as Junmyeon kept sucking his cock.

After a while Jongdae felt so weak he couldn’t hold onto Junmyeon’s hair anymore, so he dropped his hands at his sides, moaning wantonly as Junmyeon brought his cock in and out of his mouth over and over again. Junmyeon looked up at him and then grabbed both of his wrists in his hands, making eye contact with Jongdae as he slowly slid his mouth down his cock and then pulled up again. Jongdae moaned loudly as he felt Junmyeon trace his thumb around the ink of his tattoo. Fuck Junmyeon was watching his face and it was the hottest thing in the world to him. He kept watching Junmyeon suck his cock and felt like he was being held in place by the grip Junmyeon had on his wrists.

Jongdae thrusted his hips up a few times, unable to shake off Junmyeon’s grip but not even wanting to in the first place. He felt heat collecting at the base of his cock and he let out a strained moan. “Fuck, I’m gonna cum, Junmyeon, I’m gonna cum.”

Junmyeon pulled off of him and brought the tip of Jongdae’s cock back into his mouth, winking at him. Jongdae shuddered when Junmyeon sucked the orgasm out of him and then pulled away, letting Jongdae’s cock shoot semen onto his face. He closed his eyes to avoid getting hit and then panted, breathing heavy after finally taking Jongdae’s cock out of his mouth. Jongdae breathed even heavier and stared down at Junmyeon, studying how his face was painted with Jongdae’s cum. Jongdae wanted to take a picture, because it was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. He wanted to write a song about it. Fuck.

“I want a go,” Yixing said, moving as if he was going to replace Junmyeon’s spot off the end of the bed, and Jongdae whined.

“I can’t go again right now,” Jongdae breathed. “Maybe later.”

Yixing chuckled low in his throat and moved to sit next to Jongdae with his legs over the end of the bed. “Awwh, alright.” He smirked at Junmyeon as he watched Junmyeon lift his fingers to wipe the semen off of his face. Junmyeon wiped his hands on his pants but lifted his index finger to lick it clean, and Jongdae moaned shakily at the sight.

“You look like you’re good at that,” Yixing said, grinning at Junmyeon as he pulled his underwear down to his ankles, and Junmyeon stared at Yixing’s cock for a moment.

“I’d like to think I could brag if I wanted to,” Junmyeon said airily, his eyes still trained on Yixing’s cock. He breathed slowly and smiled. “Your dick is really hot.”

“Thanks. I want you to suck it.”

“I can do that,” Junmyeon said with a smile, moving over and holding Yixing’s cock up with his hand as he put his mouth around the tip. Yixing bit his lip into his mouth and Jongdae watched him, still trying to calm down from what had just been done to him. Jongdae watched Junmyeon suck Yixing’s cock and thought he looked just as sexy doing it as he had when he was sucking Jongdae’s. Yixing kept making low, growly sounds under his breath and Jongdae didn’t know where to look.

He kept his eyes trained on Yixing’s face as Junmyeon sucked his cock, and felt himself getting hard again from the way Yixing’s face contorted every now and then. He swallowed hard as Yixing started to thrust his hips into Junmyeon’s throat and Junmyeon opened up to let him in. Watching Yixing move his hips made Jongdae’s dick twitch and fuck he really wanted to get fucked tonight. That was going to happen.

“Yixing,” he said, and Yixing opened his eyes to look at him.

“Yeah?”

“Where’s the lube?” Jongdae asked, and Yixing smiled a little as he motioned toward his bedside table.

“It’s in the drawer there. Can you get some condoms too?” He asked as Jongdae crawled on the bed to open the drawer. He pulled out a string of condoms and the small squeeze bottle of lube he could find, and when he returned he dropped the condoms to the bed, picking up the bottle and opening it. Watching Yixing fuck Junmyeon’s throat made him want to get a dick inside of him as soon as possible, so he poured some lube out onto his fingers to fuck himself with. Yixing watched him curiously, seemingly distracted from the blowjob he was getting.

Jongdae teased his hole with the tips of his fingers and moaned slowly when he started to push one finger inside. The sound caught Junmyeon’s attention and he opened his eyes to look at them, and then pulled up to smile at him, moving his hand to jerk Yixing’s cock quickly. “Fuck, Jongdae, you’re so hot.”

“I want it,” Jongdae said slowly, feeling like a slut but not caring. Something about how Junmyeon had eagerly jumped right into everything was turning him on to no end and he really wanted to get pounded into, so he thrust his finger all the way in and whined at the feeling. He kept fucking himself with his finger as Junmyeon took Yixing’s cock back into his mouth, and Jongdae thought it was kind of cute how Yixing didn’t know where to look first.

Jongdae put another finger inside of himself when he felt ready and he bounced up and down on his hand, watching Yixing get his dick sucked through low eyelids. Yixing kept his eyes trained on Jongdae’s fingers and Jongdae liked that he was watching him. If he was going to be observed tonight then he was going to put on a show, so when he thrust both fingers deep inside of him he moaned loudly and rocked forward.

Yixing moaned a little bit as Junmyeon worked his tongue around the tip of his cock, and Jongdae pulled his fingers out to put more lube on them and then try to introduce a third. The feeling was white hot pain and pleasure and Jongdae could see himself getting addicted to it. After a few more moments Yixing made a strangled sound and pulled away from Junmyeon, shivering a little as Junmyeon’s mouth left his cock. “Fuck, stop, stop.” His body shuddered all over as he tried to keep himself from orgasming, and Junmyeon smirked at him.

“You don’t wanna cum yet?” He asked.

“Not yet, I wanna save it. Fuck,” Yixing moaned again and then sat up a bit.

“I can’t watch this anymore,” Junmyeon said with a grin as he rose to his feet, starting to push his slacks down. Jongdae noted that he hadn’t been wearing underwear and his breath hitched a little when he saw Junmyeon’s dick standing thick and at attention. “I want to fuck you, I want to fuck you hard, Jongdae,” Junmyeon licked his lips and Jongdae felt himself go weak.

“Please,” Jongdae said, falling back down to the bed and putting his legs up in the air for a moment before looking over at Yixing. “Is that okay?” He didn’t know why he was asking Yixing for permission but he did anyway, and Yixing laughed at him.

“Of course. Fuck him,” Yixing said, throwing a condom at Junmyeon, and Junmyeon’s face looked disappointed for a split second before he picked up the condom and opened it. He slid it on his cock and Jongdae felt his skin get hot just watching him. Junmyeon put some lube on his cock and then on his fingers, reaching down to prod one at Jongdae’s hole.

“You feel prepared enough?” Junmyeon asked him, and as he poked one finger inside of Jongdae’s hole, Jongdae shivered and nodded.

“Yes, yes, I am.” He squirmed a little when Junmyeon pulled his finger out, and moaned when he felt the tip of Junmyeon’s cock pressed at his entrance. Junmyeon pushed the tip inside and Jongdae moaned at the sudden stretching.

“Fuck!” Junmyeon cursed loudly as he pushed his cock further into Jongdae. “Fuck, you’re so tight, baby. Tight and so fucking hot.”

“He’s perfect, isn’t he?” Yixing purred as he stroked Jongdae’s hair again, and Jongdae laughed a little at his touch. “That ass is perfect.”

“Ohh, oh my god,” Junmyeon moaned as he pushed himself all the way inside. Junmyeon’s cock wasn’t as big as Yixing’s but it still felt amazing inside of him, Jongdae thought as Junmyeon started to rock back and forth. Junmyeon bit his lip into his mouth and Jongdae moaned as Junmyeon slowly brought his cock in and out of Jongdae’s hole. It felt hot and wet and Jongdae thought he felt positively filled up.

He felt Junmyeon’s cock throb inside of him and that was enough to make Jongdae moan loudly. Junmyeon rocked his hips up against him slowly, letting Jongdae get used to the feeling, and Jongdae looked over to see Yixing stroking his dick and watching them. Jongdae moaned again and watched Yixing touching himself, distracted by how pretty his hand looked on his dick. He had always thought Yixing looked really hot when he was jerking off.

Junmyeon leaned one arm on the bed as he started to go faster, and Jongdae spread his legs farther, letting him go in deeper. He felt Junmyeon’s cock go inside as far as it would go and let out a low moan, Junmyeon echoing the sound and then grinning. “Feels so good, baby. You’re so tight and so fucking hot.”

“Oh, Junmyeon,” Jongdae said, and then felt a rush of heat from saying his name. Holy shit he was having sex with Junmyeon. This was really awesome, and from what Jongdae could tell already, Junmyeon knew what he was doing. Junmyeon leaned down to kiss Jongdae slowly, and Jongdae whimpered against his lips at the sudden touch. Junmyeon’s lips were soft and vaguely sweet, and he was breathing gently against Jongdae’s lips with each thrust he made. Jongdae liked the feeling of Junmyeon’s lips on his own, and he was content to lay there and kiss him while Junmyeon fucked him.

Junmyeon moaned against Jongdae’s lips after a moment and pulled away from him, starting to thrust his hips harder. Jongdae could feel Junmyeon’s cock prodding him deep inside and tried to angle himself so that it would hit his prostate. “Unnh, right there,” he moaned when Junmyeon found it for a second, and right as Jongdae said that, Junmyeon started thrusting harder against the spot. Jongdae whimpered and flailed a little bit on the bed, his arms moving wildly at his sides.

Junmyeon grinned down at him and dropped his head to Jongdae’s neck. “Ahh, you’re so cute, so cute, Jongdae.” He breathed on Jongdae’s skin and then kissed at his neck, giving sweet touches of his lips to the skin for a while before sucking it into his mouth. Jongdae moaned as Junmyeon sucked on his neck, feeling Junmyeon’s teeth nipping gently at the skin. Junmyeon sucked on his skin for at least a minute and Jongdae thought back to the marks he had left on Jongin’s skin that one night at work. If he was going to be marked like that he’d have to learn how to cover it with makeup, he thought, but then immediately decided he didn’t care. Junmyeon’s mouth felt incredible and he could do whatever he wanted.

Junmyeon moved both hands to put on Jongdae’s hips as he kept sucking hickies into his neck, and when Junmyeon started to speed up his thrusts Jongdae thought he was going to orgasm. Junmyeon found Jongdae’s prostate again and thrusted against it, going faster as Jongdae’s encouraging moans got louder. Jongdae heard Yixing at his side moaning while stroking his dick, and he reached out to take it in his hand.

Yixing made a soft sound of surprise and then grinned down at him. Jongdae tried jerking his dick but Junmyeon started rolling his hips against Jongdae’s in a way that made his cock hit Jongdae’s prostate every time, and Jongdae flailed once more, his hand falling off of Yixing’s cock. “Oh, fuck, Junmyeon! Junmyeon, fuck!”

“That feels good, baby?” Junmyeon moaned and closed his eyes, starting to go harder and making Jongdae yelp. “Tell me, tell me.”

“Yes, yes, it feels good,” Jongdae moaned, trying to rock up against Junmyeon’s cock. Junmyeon grinned and kept fucking him, moaning lowly when he and Jongdae met rhythm.

“Oh, fuck. Oh my god.” Junmyeon groaned and pulled all the way out, making Jongdae moan and then making Jongdae scream when he thrusted his whole cock inside again. He pulled out once more and repeated the action, and Jongdae felt his entire body go weak.

“Junmyeon, holy shit!”

“You like that, don’t you?”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Jongdae could only keep cursing and Junmyeon laughed at him, pulling his cock all the way out and hesitating.

“Turn over, turn over, baby,” Junmyeon told him, and Jongdae scrambled to turn himself onto his front with shaky legs. He sat up on his knees and groaned loudly as Junmyeon thrusted his cock inside of Jongdae, putting one hand on the side of his hip. Junmyeon thrusted into him slowly for a while, letting Jongdae get used to the new position, and when he started to fuck harder Jongdae let out a strangled moan and reached for Yixing’s cock helplessly.

Yixing chuckled and helped Jongdae out, putting his cock by his hand and moaning a little when Jongdae wrapped his hand around it. Jongdae pumped his cock in his hand as quickly as he could, and whined when Junmyeon started to fuck him harder.

“Fuck,” Jongdae breathed, as if it was the only word he could remember. Junmyeon put a hand on Jongdae’s head and then gripped his hair, loose at first but then tightening when Jongdae didn’t resist. Jongdae groaned loudly and thought he was going to cum right there. “Junmyeon! Junmyeon, oh my god!”

“I love it when you say my name,” Junmyeon told him, thrusting his hips hard against Jongdae’s, and Jongdae moaned once more.

“Don’t stop, holy fuck! Junmyeon it feels so good!” Junmyeon’s grip on Jongdae’s hair got even tighter and Jongdae felt his cock leaking precum onto the bedsheets. Jongdae rubbed his palm around the tip of Yixing’s cock and Yixing moaned, leaning his head back.

“Suck his dick,” Junmyeon told Jongdae, and that was all the incentive Jongdae needed to take Yixing’s cock into his mouth. Yixing let out a laughy sound that was replaced with a long moan when Jongdae swirled his tongue around the head of his dick. He could feel Junmyeon pounding away behind him and Jongdae didn’t know how much longer he was going to last for.

He moaned around Yixing’s cock and the vibrations made Yixing stand a little bit stiffer. He tried taking Yixing deep into his throat and then moaning again, which wasn’t hard to do with the way Junmyeon was fucking him. Junmyeon put one hand on Jongdae’s hips and kept the other firmly gripping Jongdae’s hair, fucking into him hard and pulling Jongdae’s hair tight. Jongdae had no idea he was into hair-pulling until this moment right fucking now and he was loving it.

When Junmyeon pulled his hand off of Jongdae’s hair to put it on Jongdae’s hips and hold him in place, Jongdae whimpered and pulled his mouth off of Yixing’s cock, moaning over and over again with each thrust. He kept Yixing’s cock close to his face and breathed little moans all over it, and apparently the feeling of his breath turned Yixing on because he moaned louder than he had all night. Yixing put one hand on Jongdae’s head gently and Jongdae kept moaning onto his cock.

Junmyeon leaned down, pressing his chest against Jongdae’s back and breathing onto his ear, and Jongdae felt electricity shoot through his veins. Junmyeon’s cock was hitting his prostate over and over again and the pleasure was so much that it was nearly unbearable. “Oh, Junmyeon, I’m gonna cum, I can feel it. Oh fuck it feels so good.”

“Should I let you cum?” Junmyeon asked into Jongdae’s ear, and Jongdae moaned at him. “What if I pulled out right now?”

“Then I’d kill you,” Jongdae said weakly, and Junmyeon laughed breathlessly, moving up and gripping Jongdae’s hips tight as he pounded into him. He fucked hard for a few moments and then slowed down, and the sudden slow in movement made Jongdae whine loudly. “Please, Junmyeon, please, give it to me.”

“Oh, fuck, I can’t turn that down,” Junmyeon said lowly, starting to fuck him hard again. Jongdae felt Junmyeon’s cock hitting his prostate over and over again and he saw stars when he came, his legs feeling like jello all of a sudden and collapsing under the weight. He came hard onto the bedsheets but didn’t mind, thrusting his hips forward as Junmyeon kept fucking into him.

“Fuck yes, let me hear it, baby!” Junmyeon told him as Jongdae moaned loudly through his orgasm. “Cum for me! Fuck!” Jongdae did as Junmyeon told him, shuddering and shivering underneath him and feeling completely spent after a moment. He could hear Yixing moaning as he was jerking his dick and he raised a limp hand to stroke Yixing’s cock, but Yixing knocked it away from him. Apparently the sight of Jongdae getting fucked was enough for him, and Jongdae moaned once more at the thought.

Junmyeon let Jongdae rest for a short moment before fucking him at full speed again, and the stars in Jongdae’s vision didn’t fade for a while because of it. Junmyeon was moaning loudly behind him, his thrusts becoming more and more jerky as he neared his own orgasm. “Oh, fuck, Jongdae, fuck. Come back here baby.”

Jongdae rocked his hips against Junmyeon’s cock and Junmyeon moaned loudly. “Fuck, yes, fuck yourself on my dick. Fuck.”

Jongdae let out a high-pitched whimper at Junmyeon dirty talking him. He moved back on Junmyeon’s cock as fast as he could and Junmyeon whined at the sensation. “I’m gonna cum. I want to cum inside of you.”

“ _Fuck_ ,” Jongdae exclaimed just at the idea. He knew Junmyeon was wearing a condom but it sounded hot enough anyway. Junmyeon thrusted into him over and over again until he slowed suddenly, and Jongdae could hear that he was having an orgasm behind him. Jongdae looked up to look at Yixing watching Junmyeon coming intently, and when Junmyeon was done he breathed heavily, pulling his cock out and then slapping Jongdae’s ass as hard as he could.

“Fuck,” Junmyeon said, and Jongdae moaned from the slap. Junmyeon leaned down so he could talk in Jongdae’s ear, his hand still on Jongdae’s ass. “I wish I could've cum inside of you, I want to see it dripping out of your hole,” Junmyeon said gruffly, and Jongdae felt himself going a thousand shades of red. That was by far the most flustering thing anyone had ever said to him and it was ridiculously hot. Junmyeon pulled away from him and then stood up off the bed. “Uhm, can I throw this out?”

“Yeah, there’s a trash can in the bathroom,” Yixing spoke in a strangled voice and motioned at the bathroom door, and Jongdae collapsed on the bed as Junmyeon went into the bathroom. Yixing looked down at him and Jongdae could feel him smiling without seeing him. “Wow, you okay?”

“I’m fucking awesome,” Jongdae said, and Yixing laughed.

“That was really, really hot.”

“What the fuck was that?” Jongdae asked, a new burst of energy rushing through him as he rolled over onto his back and sat up. He looked towards the bathroom and furrowed his brow, then glanced at Yixing. “What the fuck? Is that _Junmyeon_? Really? Where did that come from? He’s, he’s so awkward at work, he’s so awkward and cute all the time. What the fuck!”

Yixing chuckled the entire time Jongdae spoke and Jongdae found the sound endearing. “Is it my turn?” Yixing asked, and Jongdae breathed slowly. Holy shit he had kind of forgotten this was a threesome. Now he felt bad about neglecting Yixing. He didn’t feel like he was ready to fuck again but he was going to anyway, since he knew Yixing was unbearably hot and he would make him cum.

“Yeah, d’you want to...uhm...I can’t get on top,” Jongdae shook his head, “my body feels like a noodle.”

Yixing laughed at him and moved to get in between Jongdae’s legs. “That’s fine, Jongdae,” he said as he reached for a condom. He opened it and put it on, and when Junmyeon returned from the bathroom he grinned at them.

“Jongdae, you’re so hot, getting fucked like this,” Junmyeon said. Jongdae laughed a little, not entirely sure how to respond. This _did_ feel really hot to him. This was the hottest thing he had ever done, he thought as Yixing slowly pushed his cock inside of Jongdae. Jongdae let out a long moan and smiled slowly. Yixing’s cock was a little bit bigger than Junmyeon’s and it filled him up in the most perfect way.

“Oh, Yixing, Yixing,” Jongdae moaned as Yixing slowly brought his cock in and out, and he liked the way Yixing grinned when he heard Jongdae calling his name. He fucked him slowly, his hips rolling back and forth in the expert way Jongdae had grown to love, and when Yixing started to go faster Jongdae whined and rocked against him. Yixing breathed and grunted above him, and Jongdae watched beads of sweat collect at his temple before rolling down his face.

“Fuck, you’re so hot,” Jongdae told him, and Yixing laughed at him.

“Thank you, baby,” Yixing said, thrusting his cock harder, and Jongdae moaned loudly.

“Fuck, Yixing! It feels so good,” Jongdae told him, and then glanced towards the bathroom door to see Junmyeon still standing in the doorway, his eyes transfixed on the bed. Jongdae grinned at him and then closed his eyes, rocking against Yixing harder than before. “Fuck me,” he said, and Yixing groaned out loud.

“You sexy little shit,” Yixing told him before he leaned down to take Jongdae into a kiss. Jongdae was more than willing to make out with him but he was afraid he was going to forget to breathe. Yixing’s tongue entered his mouth and Jongdae’s tongue swirled around it, moaning against his lips as Yixing fucked him harder. Jongdae had thought he was done but Yixing was always teaching him that he could _always_ be even more turned on.

Jongdae was a bit overwhelmed from the feelings of Yixing’s cock fucking in and out of him and Yixing’s tongue moving around his mouth, and thought that he was going to explode at any moment. Yixing moved both of his hands to Jongdae’s chest to pinch his nipples, and Jongdae let out a high-pitched wail at the sudden movement. Now the sensations were entirely too much for him, and he writhed under Yixing, moving all about as Yixing kept rolling his hips against him.

Yixing rubbed Jongdae’s nipples under his thumbs and when he found Jongdae’s prostate, Jongdae groaned loudly, signalling that he had found his sweet spot. Yixing grinned and started to poke his cock up against Jongdae’s prostate again and again, making Jongdae whimper and groan. “Oh, fuck, Yixing, Yixing! Right there, I’m gonna cum, fuck!”

“Mm, you can cum all night, can’t you?” Yixing asked in a low voice, and just the sound brought Jongdae to orgasm, flailing and moaning underneath Yixing. Yixing grinned down at him and watched him cum, and Jongdae could hear the slick sound of Junmyeon jerking off as he approached the bed. Yixing thrusted his cock into Jongdae a few more times before pulling out once Jongdae looked completely exhausted.

Yixing was panting hard and looked tired, but he glanced over at Junmyeon with fire in his eyes and motioned for him to get on the bed. “I want to fuck you,” he said as he pulled the condom off to replace it with another.

Junmyeon made an awkward sound and smiled at him. “Uhh, I don’t really do that, I’m sorry.”

Yixing scoffed at him. “What are you talking about?”

“I don’t really bottom a lot.”

“You do tonight. Come on, get into the spirit of the threesome,” Yixing laughed breathlessly, and Junmyeon glanced to Jongdae for help, but Jongdae was busy laying there being fucked out.

Jongdae glanced up at Junmyeon and smiled a little. “You’ll like it, seriously. Yixing is the best.”

“ _Thank you_ , Jongdae,” Yixing said graciously, and Junmyeon laughed nervously.

“Alright,” he said, laying down on the bed next to Jongdae and spreading his legs awkwardly. Yixing grinned as he grabbed the lube and poured some out onto his fingers.

“I’ll prepare you well, don’t worry, it won’t hurt,” Yixing told him as he set his fingers down at Junmyeon’s hole. He prodded two of them through the ring of muscle and Junmyeon grunted, closing his eyes and making a concentrated face. Jongdae laughed at him and tried to sit up with the last bit of energy he had.

“Just relax,” Jongdae told Junmyeon, and Junmyeon huffed.

“I am so relaxed.” Junmyeon asserted, and Jongdae laughed at him.

“It’ll be fine,” Jongdae told him as Yixing pushed his fingers inside farther. Junmyeon made a strangled sound but looked like he was willing himself to calm down, and Jongdae thought his awkwardly contorted face was adorable. Junmyeon’s mouth fell open when Yixing pushed his fingers deeper inside, and he groaned out loud.

“Oh, Yixing, fuck.”

“You like it, don’t you?” Yixing smirked at him. “You look like you could be a cockslut in another life.”

“Why not this one, y’know?” Junmyeon asked, and Yixing laughed airily.

“That’s the perfect attitude.” Jongdae watched Yixing push a third finger inside and Junmyeon sat up a bit from the sudden stretch.

“Oh, fuck,” he said, and Yixing continued to move his fingers inside of him, until Junmyeon began rocking against him. After a while Junmyeon was moving more eagerly than Jongdae thought he would be, and Yixing pulled his fingers out, moving to pour lube on his cock.

“I think you’re ready. You’re moving against me like you want this dick,” Yixing told Junmyeon, and Junmyeon nodded.

“I know you’ll take care of me,” Junmyeon said, and the sentence made Yixing smirk a little as he readied his cock at Junmyeon’s entrance.

“Mhm, I will.” He started to push his cock inside and Junmyeon made a grunting sound like he was regretting this decision already. Jongdae laughed at it and watched Junmyeon’s head fall back against the pillows, his brow furrowed and his eyes closed tight. He gritted his teeth and tried to relax as Yixing pushed his cock all the way inside.

When Junmyeon was full of Yixing’s cock he made a long groaning sound that made Jongdae’s cock twitch. He watched Yixing languidly move his hips to send his cock in and out of Junmyeon, and vaguely wondered what topping Junmyeon must feel like. He looked really tight and hot, going from the breathless, aroused expression on Yixing’s face. Yixing put his hands on Junmyeon’s hips and held him down while he fucked him, and Jongdae moaned a little. Yixing was so hot no matter what he was doing.

After a short while Junmyeon had begun to rock back against Yixing, and Yixing took this as permission to fuck Junmyeon into the mattress. Junmyeon whimpered and whined loudly once Yixing moved faster, and Jongdae thought every sound he was making was really cute. Jongdae wanted to make cute sounds while he got fucked too, but he thought that every sound he ever made was just guttural and groan-y. Everything Junmyeon did was effortlessly adorable, even when he had a cock inside of him.

Especially when he had a cock inside of him, Jongdae thought as he watched Junmyeon writhe about with Yixing on top of him. Yixing grunted and moaned as he fucked Junmyeon, closing his eyes and focusing on thrusting his hips in the right direction. When he found Junmyeon’s prostate Junmyeon let out a deep groan and Jongdae moaned at it.

“That’s incredible,” Junmyeon said, sounding exhausted, and Yixing grinned at him.

“Told you you’d like it.”

“Keep fucking me there-- oh god,” Junmyeon choked back his words as Yixing hit him in the prostate over and over again. Junmyeon’s face scrunched up a bit at the pleasure and Jongdae licked his lips watching him. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Junmyeon cursed, and he smacked his hands against the bed a few times. “Holy shit, holy shit.”

“You okay?” Yixing asked, not bothering to slow his thrusts at all.

“Yixing this is so hot, holy shit. Keep going,” Junmyeon told him, his voice tired and breathy, and Yixing grinned toothily, spreading Junmyeon’s legs apart further with his hands so he could thrust in deeper. The change in movement made Junmyeon groan lowly and thrust up against Yixing.

“Fuck, Yixing, I think-- oh fuck, it feels so hot!” Junmyeon whined, and Yixing moaned as Junmyeon pulsed around him. Junmyeon thrusted up a few more times and Jongdae saw a lazy spurt of semen dribble out of his cock as he came, his face contorting wildly as his legs shook. Junmyeon didn’t look like he was used to prostate orgasms so when he calmed down he opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. “Oh my god.”

“I’ll be right there-- unnh, fuck,” Yixing grunted, and the sound made Jongdae want to jump him and go for another around. “Keep moving against me,” he told Junmyeon, and Junmyeon nodded, rocking his hips back against Yixing. Yixing fucked Junmyeon as hard as he was going before and Junmyeon whimpered with each movement, which made Yixing moan at him.

Jongdae thought he could watch Yixing fucking Junmyeon forever as Yixing came to orgasm, and when he groaned loudly Jongdae reached down to jerk his dick at the noise. Yixing gave Junmyeon a few more powerful thrusts before pulling out completely, and Junmyeon laid there exhausted while Yixing got up and threw the condom out.

Jongdae grinned down at Junmyeon and smacked his shoulder. “See, it’s good, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Junmyeon said breathlessly, and then laughed. “Much better than I thought it would be. Holy shit.”

“I’m fucking dying,” Yixing said as he stood in the doorway of the bathroom. “I’m going to pass out right now.”

“I’m not even awake right now,” Jongdae agreed, and Junmyeon laughed a little, sitting up.

“I have to go, I have to go now,” Junmyeon said. “It’s probably like, three or four? Shit.”

“You should stay here,” Jongdae frowned, and Junmyeon shook his head.

“No, I have to meet people in the morning tomorrow. I have to go, I’m sorry.”

“Okay goodbye,” Yixing said quickly as Junmyeon pushed himself off of the bed. Jongdae gave Yixing a curious smirk but Yixing didn’t seem to notice the expression, instead focused on watching Junmyeon put his clothes back on.

Jongdae collapsed on the bed and thought he was going to fall asleep right then and there. Yixing waited around for Junmyeon to put his clothes back on, and when he heard Yixing and Junmyeon exchanging goodbyes Jongdae sat up and moved closer to the edge of the bed. “Junmyeon, c’mere,” he said, and when Junmyeon came over Jongdae hugged him. “I’ll see you later. Thanks for spending time with us.”

“Of course, I had a lot of fun. You’re fun,” Junmyeon said with a smile, putting his hand on the side of Jongdae’s face and angling it up at him. Jongdae grinned and Junmyeon beamed back at him. “Sorry I have to bolt.”

“That’s fine, we’ll just sleep together some other time,” Jongdae said, and Junmyeon patted his cheek.

“Ahh, so cute. I’ll see you,” he said, and he smiled once last time before leaving the room. Yixing followed him out to lock the door behind him, and Jongdae fell down to the bed once more, feeling completely drained of life.

After Junmyeon had left Yixing came back into the room and grinned at Jongdae splayed out on the bed. “Did you like that?”

“That was fucking awesome, that was the fucking best, I have no goddamn words,” Jongdae told him, and Yixing laughed. “That was the best. I want to do that all the time.”

Yixing made a soft sound of dissent. “Nah, I don’t think we’re going to do that anymore.”

Jongdae frowned at sat up to look at Yixing. “Why not?”

“At least not soon. That takes all the fun out of it, if we have it too often. Like beach vacations or cake. If you do it all the time then it loses the charm.”

“I guess that’s...true,” Jongdae said, still not pleased with this reply. He really liked fucking Junmyeon and wanted to do it again if he could. He could probably do with that without Yixing, he thought as Yixing came over to the bed and slipped into it. When Yixing pulled Jongdae close and put his arm around him, Jongdae blinked.

“You’ll sleep well tonight,” Yixing told him, and Jongdae stared up at the ceiling. What was going on? He was cuddling with Yixing, right? Why did it feel so weird? He had done this before. He tried to relax against Yixing’s arms and found that it wasn’t hard at all to do. Yixing smelled like sweat and sex and himself and Jongdae thought that was one of his favorite scents. He heard Yixing mumbling something at him but the sound was too muffled by the pillows for him to pick up on it.

“What’s that?” Jongdae asked, and when Yixing didn’t reply he realized he was asleep. Damn, Yixing was able to fall asleep so quickly. Jongdae relaxed and closed his eyes, resting his head in the crook of Yixing’s neck. He figured he was going to be able to sleep easily too, especially right here. His body felt warm and loose and perfect, and he couldn’t remember the last time he was so comfortable. A part of him was glad Junmyeon hadn’t stayed, because this bed was the perfect size for two people.

 

 


	17. (nsfw) jongdae spends time with new friends

When Jongdae woke up the next morning he was a little surprised that Yixing was out of bed already, wearing his pajama pants and rummaging around his closet for something.  Jongdae grunted softly, trying to get Yixing’s attention, and Yixing turned around to look at him with an easy smile. “Good morning, songbird. Can I ask you to get out of bed for a moment?”

Jongdae couldn’t help but grin at him, since he liked that nickname a lot. He threw the bedsheets off of his body and sat up a bit. “Yeah, what’s up?”

“I just want to change the bedsheets, since they’re covered in lube and jizz and all that. Sounds like a good idea to me.” Yixing pulled out a new set of bedsheets from his closet and then closed the door with his foot. Jongdae pushed himself out of bed and yawned when he was on his feet, and Yixing smirked at him. “You got a little something on your neck there.”

Jongdae groaned. “Ahh, really?” He went into the bathroom to check his reflection and there was indeed a large purple bruise on his neck. Damn Junmyeon and his teeth. Jongdae didn’t really know how he was going to cover this up. Jongdae leaned closer to the mirror to inspect the bruise, and found that he kind of liked the way it followed the curve of his neck. It was intimidating looking but kind of like a badge of honor or something. A memento of the crazy sex he had had last night.

He turned the bathroom light off and went back into Yixing’s room, watching the man strip the sheets from his bed. “Do you need help?”

“No, I got it,” Yixing told him. Jongdae sat down on the floor and leaned up against the wall as he watched Yixing strip the bed of its sheets and throw the sheets unceremoniously towards the door. Jongdae found his boxers on the floor and picked them up to slip them on, and then watched Yixing struggle to put the fitted sheet on by himself. He laughed a little and pushed himself off of the wall and to his feet.

“Let me help,” he said, going up to him and taking a corner of the sheet in his hands. Yixing made a sound of dissent but didn’t whisk Jongdae away, and Jongdae helped him put the sheet on the bed. When it was smoothed out Jongdae plopped down on the floor right where he had been standing, and Yixing laughed out loud as he threw the top bedsheet over the bed.

“Are you tired?”

“I’m still really worn out.” Jongdae sighed and it turned into a yawn. “Last night was too much for little old me to handle.”

Yixing laughed at him. “We worked you too hard, hmm? I’ll be more gentle next time.”

Jongdae raised a hand to rub at his eye and chuckled a little. “It wasn’t really you, it was Junmyeon. He was kind of rough with me.” Not that Jongdae didn’t appreciate that, however. Last night was probably the best sex he had ever had. He should’ve expected as much, since he remembered how much damage Junmyeon had done to Jongin that one time, but he was still very thrown off. “He really surprised me. I was kind of expecting him to flop around. Instead he fucked the hell out of me. It was really out of nowhere.” He laughed out loud. “I kept expecting him to make me call him daddy or something just as strange, he was so out of character.”

Yixing snorted a laugh and stopped smoothing the top sheet on the bed to look at Jongdae. “Would you have liked that?” He asked.

Jongdae blinked and then shook his head, chuckling again. “Uhm, no? I’m not into that. But I wouldn’t have thrown him off of me or anything.”

“Huh,” Yixing nodded, looking like he was taking a mental note. Jongdae stared at him for a second and Yixing took the time to go back to making the bed. Jongdae smirked a little at his behavior. He watched Yixing finish making the bed and gave him a soft smile when he was done.

“Good job.”

“C’mere,” Yixing said, motioning for Jongdae to come closer to him. Jongdae groaned a little at the thought of getting up but followed his direction anyway, rising to his feet and going over to the side of the bed. Yixing pushed him down to the bed with an easy hand and then got in between his legs on the floor, hooking his fingers into the sides of Jongdae’s boxers, and Jongdae laughed out loud as Yixing started to slip them off.

“What are you doing?” Jongdae asked playfully.

“I wanna suck your dick,” Yixing said, pulling Jongdae’s boxers all the way down so Jongdae could step out of them. “I didn’t get to do that last night.”

“Ahh...” Jongdae didn’t know how much he could handle after last night but he was not one to deny a spontaneous blowjob. Yixing was still his favorite, he thought as Yixing took the head of his cock into his mouth and sucked around it. Junmyeon was good but Yixing was just _better_. Jongdae was surprised that he was even able to get hard after last night, but then wasn’t all that surprised when Yixing ran his tongue up the underside of his cock because it felt so damn good and of course he was going to get turned on.

Yixing was able to suck him to orgasm faster than Jongdae was used to, but Jongdae didn’t feel ashamed when he came quickly, just let the pleasure rush over him and leave him feeling warm and relaxed as he slowly breathed in and out. He opened his eyes and the sunlight pouring in through the window hit him right in the eye, and he raised a hand to block it.

Yixing smirked up at him after licking his lips and then raised a hand to point at the arm Jongdae had lifted. “What’s the tattoo mean?”

“Huh?” Jongdae blinked at the orange flame tattoo he had on his wrist. “This one?”

“Yeah, that one.” Yixing laughed. “Do you have more than one?”

“No, this is the only one.” Jongdae grinned. “It’s from an album. Let me show you...” Jongdae sat up and reached off the bed for his pants, thanking Yixing for grabbing them for him and handing them to him. He pulled his phone out of the pocket and then brought up his internet browser, searching for the album cover his tattoo was from and then turning the phone around to show Yixing after it had loaded. “From this album, Set Yourself on Fire by Stars. See, the tattoo on the drawing is in the same place as it is on my wrist.”

“Ahh, that’s really cool.” Yixing smiled a little as he looked at Jongdae’s phone. “You like this album a lot, then?”

“It’s one of my favorites. It helped me get through a lot of teen angst,” Jongdae nodded, as if that was a completely mature thing to say. The side of Yixing’s mouth perked up in a smirk and Jongdae enjoyed it. Yixing handed the phone back to Jongdae and Jongdae put it down on the bed, watching Yixing as he rose to his feet. “What day is it, it’s Sunday, right?”

“Yeah, it’s Sunday.” Yixing yawned and went over to his bedroom door, looking back at Jongdae. “Do you want anything for breakfast?” He blinked. “Lunch. Brunch. Whatever. It’s after twelve, I think.”

“Uhm...” Jongdae thought about it, and then his mind wandered. Sunday? Was he supposed to do something today? He was pretty sure he didn’t have anything until work... _oh fuck he had a project_. His eyes went wide as he remembered the Computer Science project he had that was due today, at five in the afternoon, that he hadn’t even looked at the prompt for yet. Fuck! _Fuck!_ He was already barely passing the class, if he missed the assignment then he would-- he was brought out of his panic when he noticed Yixing staring curiously at him from the doorway, and then scrambled to put his boxers back on. “Shit! I just remembered I have homework!”

Yixing let out a breathy laugh and Jongdae would’ve scowled at it if he had had the time. He dashed around the room putting his clothes on while Yixing went out into the living room and called out to him. “So I guess that means you don’t want anything.”

“No, I have to go! Fuck! I have to write a shitton of code and then send it in on the website, fuck, it’s due at _five_ I think, fuck! What time is it? After twelve?” He picked up his phone and saw that it was a few minutes after noon, and cursed again. “I have five hours?! To do the whole project?! Fuck! All I've thought about this week was having sex with you! I totally forgot!”

Jongdae could feel Yixing being smarmy and amused from the other room but he wasn’t in the mood to deal with it. If he failed this class now he’d have to take it again next semester and holy shit he hated it so much, he wasn’t going to do that, no way. He put all his clothes on and shoved his phone into his pocket, going out in the living room and sitting down on the couch to put his shoes on. “I hope it’s okay if I just run off,” he called out to Yixing in the kitchen, and Yixing grunted at him.

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Yixing said, coming out to stand in the doorway and watch Jongdae. Jongdae jumped up when his laces were tied and darted over to the door.

“Bye, I’ll see you at work I guess,” he said, and when Yixing reached out and grabbed his wrist in his hand Jongdae spun around to blink at him. “What?” He spat, feeling rushed, and then immediately felt terrible for snapping at Yixing when he saw the taken aback look on his face. He blinked once more and softened his face. “Holy shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell. I’m freaking out about my grade. What’s up?”

“It’s...nothing,” Yixing said, letting go of Jongdae’s wrist and motioning his hand dismissively at him. “Don’t worry about it. Go do your homework.”

“No, Yixing, I’m sorry. What were you going to say?”

“It doesn’t matter, I don’t want to hold you back,” Yixing said, and as Jongdae studied his face he was struck with the sudden urge to pull him into a hug and apologize profusely. He was curious and hurting and anxious as hell about his grade, and Yixing just stared back at him. _Ask him to be your boyfriend, you like him so much_ , he thought suddenly, and he was so totally frozen in the moment that words didn’t come out.

“Alright, uhm, I’ll see you at work, then.” Jongdae managed after a moment.

“See you,” Yixing replied airily, and Jongdae didn’t have the time to be upset about it. He darted out of the apartment and tried to calm himself down in the elevator, feeling like an idiot. Shit. He would worry about Yixing later. Right now he had to deal with how much of a terrible student he was.

* * *

 

Jongdae was able to complete his project and send it in seven minutes before five in the afternoon, and once he saw the “file sent” notice on his computer he threw his hands up in the air, feeling free. It was nowhere near his best work but it was _done_ and he was probably going to get an acceptable grade on it, and that’s all he wanted. He didn’t care what kind of grade he got in the class as long as he passed it. _Fuck_ , he thought, leaning back in his chair and letting himself relax for the first time in hours. That had been painful.

But it was over now and he probably needed to eat something. He had about two hours before he had to go to work, but he didn’t feel like going to the dining hall, so he rummaged around his ramen drawer to find something. As he pulled out a packet of noodles he remembered how he had wanted to ask Yixing to be his boyfriend today, and frowned at the thought.

How the hell was he going to do that? “Will you be my boyfriend” sounded way too difficult to say for him. That was probably the best approach to take but he had no idea how he was going to get those words out, not when there was such a huge chance of Yixing turning him down. Yixing was _twenty-seven_ and had his own job and apartment. He was so much more accomplished and mature than any of the guys at his school that Jongdae had a fleeting interest in. Fuck.

He was pretty sure that Yixing liked him back but he was scared, so scared, that he was going to be wrong and then their relationship would be fucked up forever. He dropped the packet of ramen to his bed and groaned, lifting his hands to his face to rub at his temples, and sat there for a quiet moment until it was broken by his screaming goat ringtone. He groaned again and picked up his phone, hoping it wasn’t from Yixing so he could be distracted.

It was from Junmyeon, and Jongdae didn’t know if that was better or worse. _"Do you want to hang out tonight?"_ was all it said, and Jongdae bit his lip as he thought over each word. Well. He had to go to work tonight. Also he was kind of freaking out about Yixing, he didn’t know if he wanted to mix Junmyeon into that. But Junmyeon was fun and kind of harmless and for some reason Jongdae didn’t want to turn him down.

He liked that Junmyeon was so damn straightforward. Why couldn’t Yixing be straightforward. Why couldn’t he be straightforward with Yixing? He grumbled in frustration as he texted Junmyeon telling him that he had work tonight but could hang out with him afterwards, and then threw his phone down on his bed, not wanting to interact with it any more. He was just going to fucking eat and then listen to some music before going to work. He needed to calm the hell down.

* * *

 

Jongdae had been looking forward to seeing Yixing at work so he could hug him and apologize again for snapping at him earlier that day, and when a half an hour into the work night he realized that it was Yixing’s night off, he suddenly cursed out loud and felt every head on his side of the room lift up to look at him. He pulled his phone out of his pocket as if he was going to send Yixing a text, but then thought again about it. He was probably overreacting, Yixing had probably forgotten about it already. He seemed the type to not care about shit like that. Jongdae sighed a little and put his head down on Tao’s vanity. This day had started out so well, why did it have to turn out like this?

He was thankful that it was a pretty relaxed night at work, at least, with not much for him to do at all. Tao teased him a little bit about his hickey but he took it in stride, since he wasn’t ashamed at all. He didn’t have a lot of homework left and there was barely anything to clean, so he sat backstage and played Pokémon for most of the night, since Tao and Jongin were working a lot and Hakyeon hadn’t been there all week. Jongdae wondered where he was and concluded that maybe he was on vacation or something. Hakyeon wouldn’t just up and leave for no damn reason, he was probably busy. Maybe it was a good thing he wasn’t there, because Jongdae was sure he would’ve had a total mom freakout about the bruise on his neck.

Junmyeon appeared backstage at 2am on the dot, and Jongdae was a little surprised to see him, then remembered that he had agreed to hang out with him tonight. “Ah, Junmyeon!” He called out, closing his laptop to pack it away in his backpack. Junmyeon came up to him and smiled, and Jongdae wasn’t sure if he should hug him or not. He did anyway and then fluttered away. “I have to go around and clean things, I’ll be right back,” he told him before Junmyeon could get a word out, and then left with his cleaning supplies to avoid seeing Junmyeon and Jongin blink awkwardly at each other.

He went through his usual nightly routine of cleaning everything that he could find, and when he came backstage he saw Junmyeon was the only one left, sitting in Tao’s chair where Jongdae had been earlier, looking small and a little intoxicated. Jongdae called out to him with a smile and Junmyeon immediately shot to his feet, grinning at him. “Hi! I wasn’t really hanging out here tonight, I just came by to pick you up.”

“Ahh, that’s sweet,” Jongdae said as he returned his things to his closet. When everything was put away he went over to Tao’s vanity and picked his backpack up, slinging it over his shoulder. “I’m glad you came. Where do you wanna go?”

“I was just thinking we could go back to my apartment and watch a movie or something,” Junmyeon said, and Jongdae blinked as he realized Junmyeon probably wanted to have sex with him. Oh. He hadn’t even registered that. Was he really going to do this? Of course he was, he thought as he followed Junmyeon out the front door and onto the street. Junmyeon was hot as hell and liked rough sex and the same music that Jongdae did. That’s all Jongdae was ever looking for.

He thought for a moment that Yixing might be upset if he was going home with someone else tonight, but as he climbed into the back of a taxi he pushed the thought out of his head. He wasn’t fucking dating Yixing, he could do whatever he wanted. He didn’t expect Yixing to be loyal to him or anything so there wasn’t a problem. Thinking about Yixing was making his brain hurt.

“You alright?” Junmyeon asked him, giving Jongdae a little smile as he eyed him while the cab started to move.

Jongdae nodded. “Yeah, I’ve just had a really long day.”

“Awh, if you’re too tired to hang out then you can go home.”

“No, no, I want to hang out with you.” Jongdae sighed and leaned back against his seat, looking at Junmyeon. “Tao made fun of me for the hickey you gave me.”

“Really? Did I leave a big mark?” Junmyeon asked with a laugh, and when Jongdae pulled his shirt collar back to reveal all of the bruise Junmyeon scooted closer to him and made a sound of wonder. “Wow, that’s terrible.”

“I like it,” Jongdae said, adjusting his collar back to where it was. “It makes me feel kind of sexy.”

“Really? That’s hot,” Junmyeon said, and when Jongdae glanced at him he saw Junmyeon gazing at him with an intrigued smile. Jongdae laughed out loud and swatted Junmyeon’s arm.

“What did you do today?” He asked. “Did you have work today?”

“Ahh, no, I don’t have a job,” Junmyeon told him, and Jongdae wondered why he had thought that in the first place. Junmyeon seemed to come from money, he probably didn’t need a job. Wasn’t he in grad school or something? Jongdae vaguely remembered something about grad school. “I didn’t really do a lot today. I saw a friend this morning and then kind of bummed around at home. Then I got drinks with some of my brothers a few hours ago.” He wiped at his face with his hands and then looked at Jongdae. “Fraternity brothers. I only have one actual brother.”

“Ah, that’s good. It’s Sunday, you shouldn’t do a lot.”

“What did you do?”

Jongdae sighed at just the thought. “I worked my ass off to get a school project done, that’s what I did. It fucking sucked.” He exhaled through his nose pointedly. “But it’s done now and I don’t have to worry about it. Then I went to work. I worked a lot today. I want to relax.”

“We can relax when we get to my place,” Junmyeon nodded.

“Good.”

“Are you trying to get promoted?” Junmyeon asked out of nowhere. “Or do you like being the janitor?”

Jongdae stared at him for a moment. How the hell could Jongdae get promoted where he worked? “No, I like being the janitor. I just work hard because I don’t know what else to do there.” He laughed out loud. “What’s a promotion for me? How could I get promoted? Do you mean am I trying to be a stripper?”

Junmyeon barked out a laugh and shook his head. “I, I don’t know! I don’t know how Kris runs things.”

“I don’t want to be a stripper.”

“I didn’t think you wanted that,” Junmyeon chuckled. “I don’t know. I don’t know what I meant there.”

“I liked pouring drinks that one time I was behind the bar,” Jongdae said with a smile. “Maybe I could do that. Kris would have to find someone else to clean things up, though.”

“I’m sure he could do that. Ahh, you’re too young to be a bartender.”

Jongdae grunted at him. “I am not! I’m twenty-one, I’m old enough! How old did you think I was?”

Junmyeon laughed, shaking his hands at him. “I knew you were twenty-one, I knew that! I just think that’s kinda young, you don’t know how to mix alcohol.”

“I could _learn_ ,” Jongdae said with a laugh. “I’m sure it isn’t that hard. Or I could just be put on tap duty and pour beers all night. That’s not hard.”

“You should ask Chanyeol to recommend you or something,” Junmyeon said, and Jongdae bit his lip.

“Ahh, I don’t know. Sometimes my job is gross but most of the time I like it. To be honest I don’t really work a lot, I sit backstage and play on my computer. And I get paid for it. That’s a good job to me.”

Junmyeon laughed airily and Jongdae liked the sound. He didn’t know how much Junmyeon had had to drink tonight but he seemed pretty functional, and Jongdae was jealous at how good he was at holding his alcohol. Jongdae always thought he himself was kind of a lightweight. “That sounds like a good job, mm.”

Junmyeon attempted to engage Jongdae in conversation for the rest of the ride but he wasn’t very good at it, but Jongdae didn’t mind, simply enjoying his company after such a stressful day. The drive to Junmyeon’s apartment was shorter than the one to Yixing’s, at least, and when Junmyeon got out his credit card to swipe in the cab’s machine Jongdae blinked at it. He was so thankful to have friends who would pay cab fare for him. Jongdae remembered promising Yixing that he wouldn’t spend any more of Junmyeon’s money and felt a little antsy, and then convinced himself that this didn’t count. Junmyeon would’ve had to take a cab home anyway, so whatever.

He climbed out onto the street after Junmyeon had paid and waited for him to get out, and smiled at Junmyeon when Junmyeon grinned goofily at him. “My place is really high up! Come along with me,” he motioned for Jongdae to follow him, and Jongdae did so. The apartment building was a lot sleeker and nicer looking than the one Yixing lived in, and Jongdae wondered how much rent cost as he followed Junmyeon to the elevator. He saw Junmyeon press a button that said 14 on it and bit his lip. That was high up. Cool.

When the doors opened Jongdae followed Junmyeon out and towards the room Junmyeon seemed familiar with, and when Jongdae leaned up against the door as Junmyeon fumbled around for his keys, he heard laughter inside. He blinked at Junmyeon, who frowned at the door. “Oh, fuck, my roommate must have company over. I’m sorry, I didn’t think he would.”

“No, that’s fine,” Jongdae smiled a little. “I feel more awake than I did before.”

“We can just duck away from them or whatever.” Junmyeon got his keys out and unlocked the door, and Jongdae shied away for a moment to let Junmyeon walk in first. Apparently whoever was inside the apartment was welcome company, because suddenly Junmyeon was shouting and whoever was on the couch was shouting and Jongdae laughed out loud at the sudden noise.

He looked inside and saw three men on the couch, one of whom had jumped up to take Junmyeon into a hug. Jongdae stood awkwardly to the side and one of the men on the couch peered his head around to look at him. “Junmyeon, you brought a friend.”

“Yeah, yeah! This is Jongdae, he’s, uhm, we met at a club,” Junmyeon said, stepping to motion at Jongdae. Jongdae grinned at him, amused that Junmyeon was able to twist his words so much to sound better than “he’s the janitor at the gay strip club I frequent” but still be completely true. Junmyeon motioned at the man who had stood up to hug him and when Jongdae studied the face that was underneath his glasses, he concluded that this man was attractive as well. After a second he realized he had seen this man a couple times before, in snapchats that Junmyeon sent him. “This is my older brother, Kyuhyun. It’s so cool that you guys get to meet. What are you even doing here, hyung?”

That was a word Jongdae hadn’t heard in a while, and he laughed at how much more Korean Junmyeon seemed to be than him. Kyuhyun held his hand out to shake Jongdae’s and Jongdae returned it awkwardly. “Zhou Mi and I were just in the neighborhood, we’re gonna go pick up Seulgi when her work lets out. Nice to meet you, Jongdae.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Jongdae managed, his attention turning to the other man who had got up from the couch. Jongdae felt a little flustered when he saw how tall he was and registered that this man was more conventionally handsome than the last, and when Jongdae held out his hand to shake it was knocked away when the stranger took him into a bear hug. He thought that was a little strange but enjoyed it nonetheless, and laughed out loud.

“This is my roommate, Minho,” Junmyeon said, and then swatted Minho’s arm. “Don’t attack him, ahh.”

“I’m not attacking him! Hi, Jongdae, I think Junmyeon’s mentioned you before,” Minho said as he let go of Jongdae, taking Jongdae’s hand in his and shaking it excitedly. Jongdae was a little flustered by how handsome and exuberant he was, but he managed to nod at him.

“Ah, really?”

“Mhm,” Junmyeon said quickly, moving to knock Minho’s hand away. He motioned at the last man on the couch, who had stood up and was awkwardly waiting while adjusting his pants. “And this is Zhou Mi, my brother’s friend. Uhm, we weren’t expecting you guys to be awake, to be honest--”

“We were just playing the karaoke game,” Minho said, pointing at the television. “Do you want to play with us?”

Junmyeon glanced at Jongdae, and Jongdae shrugged. “I’ll watch.”

Junmyeon grinned at him. “Alright, cool. Hyung and Mimi don’t really come over a lot,” Junmyeon said, moving towards the couch so he could go over and hug Zhou Mi. Jongdae watched them for a moment as Kyuhyun went back to sit down, and Minho put his hand on Jongdae’s shoulder.

“Do you want something to drink?” He asked, and then made a face as if he was thinking about it. “Are you even old enough to drink?”

Jongdae laughed, amused at the question and all the things it implied. Was Junmyeon regularly bringing home guys that weren’t old enough to drink? And what the hell, did it even matter, they weren’t at a club, they were in a damn apartment. Who cared if he was old enough or not. “Yes, I’m twenty-one. Uhm, sure, if that’s alright.”

“I’ll make you something. Junmyeon, you want something?” He called out as he went off to the kitchen, and Junmyeon barked out a laugh at him.

“Who do you think I am?” Junmyeon replied, moving to the couch to sit down. He patted the seat next to him for Jongdae to sit and Jongdae plopped down in it, feeling weird being sandwiched between Junmyeon and his brother. What the hell was he doing here? This apartment was modern and clean and a lot nicer than Yixing’s, but Yixing’s felt more like home. Jongdae had been in a lot of strange apartments recently. He watched Junmyeon’s brother pick up a game controller and start fiddling around with the game screen.

“Junmyeon, sing something,” Kyuhyun demanded, and Junmyeon squawked at him.

“No, I just got here! You should sing something for me!”

“Ahh, fine.” Kyuhyun selected a song and then reached for the strange-looking microphone controller that was sitting on the coffee table. “Minho’s trying to get us to unlock an achievement.”

Jongdae felt a little nervous just sitting there, and pulled out his phone to fuss with. He felt as if he had gotten himself into something more involved than he had wanted. He opened his chat history with Yixing and wondered if Yixing was even awake, and then figured that he probably was. Yixing had mentioned his schedule being out of whack too.

_"I'm sitting next to Junmyeon's brother right now. This is really weird. I'm awkward."_

This was an acceptable text for him to send, and when he was done he put his phone down and listened to Kyuhyun warbling away at karaoke. He actually wasn’t terrible like Jongdae was expecting, and Jongdae was a little bit entertained by it. He was used to anyone who attempted karaoke sounding like a dying animal. Junmyeon seemed completely enamored by him, his attention unwavering from his brother, and Jongdae found it cute.

Minho came back from the kitchen with an orange drink in a glass for Jongdae, and as he handed it to him Jongdae felt his phone go off. “It’s just orange juice and vodka, we don’t have a lot right now,” Minho told him, and Jongdae took it gratefully.

“Thank you, I’ll like it.” He smiled at him and looked at his phone to see a reply from Yixing.

 _“suck his dick”_ was all it said and Jongdae almost spat out the sip of his drink he had just taken. Yixing was so fucking goofy. He took another sip from his drink and concluded it was more vodka than orange juice, and put it down on the table. Alcohol tasted so bad to him.

Jongdae blinked at the console sitting by the television, and then pointed at it. “Is that an XBOX?”

Junmyeon nodded. “Yeah, it’s Minho’s. He plays a lot of games.” Minho handed Junmyeon a beer with a smile and Junmyeon smiled back up at him. “Thank you.”

Jongdae sent a text to Yixing that said _“Junmyeon has an XBOX”_ just to torture him, and laughed out loud when he got a response almost immediately.

 _“I HATE HIM”_ it said, and Jongdae was very pleased with this response. He leaned back against the couch and wondered how true that was, and then laughed again. When Kyuhyun was done with his song Junmyeon applauded at him, and Jongdae clapped to the best of his ability with a phone in his hand. Kyuhyun smirked at him and sat down.

“Thank you, thank you,” he said, and then offered the microphone to Zhou Mi. “Do you want to go?”

“Ahh, I sang enough,” Zhou Mi said, pushing the microphone away from him. Kyuhyun turned to smirk at Junmyeon again.

“You have to go.”

“Hyung, I don’t want to, not right now,” Junmyeon whined, and when Kyuhyun rolled his eyes Minho took the microphone from him.

“I’ll go. You didn’t get enough points!” He complained, and Kyuhyun grunted at him.

“I did my best!” He said as he got up from the couch. Jongdae followed him with his eyes as he went into the kitchen and Minho selected a new song for him to try.

“Isn’t it kind of late to be singing karaoke?” Junmyeon asked, looking up at Minho, and Minho shrugged.

“These walls are thick, I don’t think our neighbors care. We haven’t gotten any complaints.”

“If we do then we’re all blaming you,” Zhou Mi said, and Minho grinned.

“I welcome that.” He looked down at Jongdae. “I’m no good at this so I apologize if I hurt your ears.”

Jongdae laughed as the song began to play, and when Minho started to sing Jongdae realized he had been right. Minho seemed to be a tiny bit drunk so maybe that was hindering him. Jongdae was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Zhou Mi seemed to be laughing to himself in the corner but Junmyeon was less cautious of his mirth, laughing out loud and clapping when Minho hit a bum note. Minho started laughing and smacked Junmyeon’s arm to get him to stop.

“Mimi, do you want something to drink?” Kyuhyun called out from the kitchen, and Zhou Mi looked towards where his voice came from.

“I’ve already got one, dear,” he called back to him, and Jongdae blinked.

“Alright, cool,” Kyuhyun replied.

Jongdae put his hand on Junmyeon’s leg to get his attention, intrigued by this. He thought it was weird that he was living in some strange utopia where everyone was gay. “Junmyeon.”

Junmyeon turned to look at him and smiled. “Yeah?”

“Is your brother gay?”

Junmyeon laughed out loud. “Of course not, he's got a girlfriend.”

“Oh, okay.” Jongdae nodded. Apparently he was just very friendly with his male friends, then. He glanced over to Zhou Mi and thought he saw the man looking askance at them for a moment, but he looked away too quickly for Jongdae to catch it.

Kyuhyun returned to the living room with a drink for himself and plopped back down on the couch, bringing out his phone. “Jongdae, let me show you something,” he said, and Jongdae was a little thrown off by the sudden attention shown towards him.

Jongdae sat up a bit. “Uhm, sure, okay.” He watched Minho put the microphone down when he was done with his song and grimace at the television. Zhou Mi laughed out loud.

“You did your best,” Zhou Mi told him, and Minho groaned.

“I’m drunk,” he excused himself, and then Kyuhyun found whatever he was looking for on his phone.

“Look at this,” Kyuhyun said, handing the phone to Jongdae, “and tell me that it’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever seen.” The screen showed a picture of a pre-teen that Jongdae eventually discerned to be Junmyeon, holding up his cell phone to the mirror and making a stupid face. It was certainly embarrassing, Kyuhyun had that right, and when Junmyeon registered what he was showing Jongdae he yelped and reached for the phone. Jongdae laughed and held it away from him, handing it back to Kyuhyun.

“Don’t show him that! Hyung!” Junmyeon raised his voice, and Jongdae laughed harder.

“That’s a really silly picture!” Jongdae said, and Kyuhyun shot his brother a shit-eating grin. Jongdae watched Junmyeon frown deeply at him and laughed again. “You looked cute, Junmyeon, don’t be mad.”

“I hate that picture! Don’t go around showing people that!”

“But he thinks it’s cute, Junie!” Kyuhyun told him, and Junmyeon rolled his eyes.

“He’s just saying that to be nice!”

“No, you looked cute, even if it is embarrassing,” Jongdae told him.

“Let me see it,” Zhou Mi piped up, and Kyuhyun handed his phone to him. He looked at the picture for a moment and chuckled. “That’s terrible.”

Minho went around the couch to look at Kyuhyun’s phone and Junmyeon groaned loudly. “I hate this! Why do you even have that picture on your phone, hyung?”

“So I can show people!” Kyuhyun said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Ahh, I’ve seen that before,” Minho said, returning to where he was before, and then he held out the microphone controller to Junmyeon. “Here, take this.”

“I’m not gonna sing...” Junmyeon took it anyway, and then looked at Jongdae. “Do you want to play?” He blinked. “You could probably unlock the achievement, you’re really good.”

“Ahh, hey,” Jongdae frowned. Junmyeon had never even heard him sing before. “Don’t say that.”

“Are you good at this game?” Minho asked him. “I’m trying to unlock something but everyone here is bad.”

“I am not bad,” Kyuhyun said indignantly, and Jongdae chuckled a little as he took the microphone.

“Uhm, I can try it. Can you pick something for me?”

“I don’t know what you know,” Junmyeon said, picking up the regular controller and scrolling through the songs. Jongdae made an excited sound when he saw a Fall Out Boy song on the screen and stopped him.

“That one, the Fall Out Boy song,” he exclaimed, and then immediately felt like a dumb teenager for pointing it out. He was definitely the youngest person there and he was feeling foolish for it, but whatever, he could probably sing Thnks Fr Th Mmrs and not sound like an idiot. He stood up, then realized he didn’t need to be standing up, so he sat back down. Wow he was nailing this. He felt so awkward and stupid.

He felt better when the song started to play, though, and thought back to all the times he had sung this song in his room when he was in high school. He liked the album this song came from a lot, even if he hadn’t listened to it in a while. He was pretty sure he was doing well but he wasn’t positive, since he had never played this game before and didn’t know how the rating system went. He decided to just sing the song as well as he could and hope for the best.

When the song was done a little banner appeared at the top of the screen to tell him he had unlocked something with his score, and before he could be proud of himself Minho had jumped at him and pulled him out of his seat and into a hug. “You unlocked it! Oh my god you’re awesome! Thank you, Jongdae!”

Jongdae laughed at the sudden hug and hugged him back, feeling elated. “Ah, you’re welcome! That was fun!”

“Jongdae, you were right, you are good at singing,” Junmyeon told him, and Jongdae frowned at him, sitting back down when Minho let go of him.

“I didn’t tell you I was good, I just told you that I sang,” Jongdae whined, reaching for his drink on the coffee table, and Junmyeon laughed.

“Well, I just figured you were good.”

“He’s better than me,” Kyuhyun grumbled, and then swatted Jongdae’s leg as Jongdae took a sip from his drink. “Junmyeon, your friend is a better singer than me.”

“Ah, hyung, you’re good too,” Junmyeon excused himself, and then Zhou Mi made an excited sound and hit Kyuhyun’s arm repeatedly.

“Hey, Seulgi just texted me that she’s out,” he told Kyuhyun, and Kyuhyun’s eyebrows raised as he shot to his feet.

“Let’s go then!” He said, and Zhou Mi rose up too. Junmyeon got up as well to see them out and Jongdae felt weird being the only person sitting, so he stood up just to be standing.

“Are you driving? You’re drunk,” Junmyeon told his brother, watching Kyuhyun wobble to avoid the coffee table, and Kyuhyun waved a hand at him.

“Zhou Mi’s driving, he’s sober.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll see you soon,” Junmyeon said as he pulled him into a hug, and Kyuhyun patted his back. Jongdae watched everyone hugging each other and felt very awkward and young, and when Kyuhyun turned to shake his hand again he jumped to attention.

“Nice to meet you, Jongdae. Please be a good influence on my brother.” Kyuhyun said.

“You’re torturing me!” Junmyeon called out at him, and Kyuhyun laughed.

“We’ll see you,” he said, moving over to the door, and Zhou Mi waved at Jongdae and gave him a tight smile before following Kyuhyun out. Minho locked the door behind them and then turned around to smile at Jongdae and Junmyeon.

“It’s late, isn’t it? I’m gonna go to bed, after I clean up,” he said, going back over to them, and Junmyeon nodded.

“Okay, Jongdae and I are gonna hang out in my room,” he told him, moving over to a door a few steps away, and Jongdae took a final sip of his drink before setting it back down on the table.

“Alright, g’night, guys,” Minho told them, and Jongdae watched him shutting down his game system before following Junmyeon over to his room. Junmyeon opened the door and went inside, and when Jongdae took a step in he was a little thrown off. He hadn’t expected Junmyeon’s room to be so damn messy but there it was, smaller than Jongdae had thought it would be and reminiscent of a disaster area. There were clothes thrown all over the floor and a suitcase half-open on the ground near his bed, knick-knacks spilling out of it and looking like it had been left there for days.

He watched Junmyeon hopping over things to get to his bedside table and redirected his attention to the bookshelf on the adjacent side of the room. Most of the room looked like a bomb had gone off but this bookshelf was immaculate, lined from top to bottom with books that were pressed neatly up against each other. Jongdae closed the door and took a step to look at the bookshelf as Junmyeon took off his suit jacket and dropped it to the floor.

Jongdae recognized a few of the titles and realized that the bookshelf was comprised of almost entirely Japanese manga. He let out a short laugh and reached out to pull out a volume of Fullmetal Alchemist, since he remembered reading a few books of that when he was in high school. He looked it over and saw it was in pretty good condition but still looked well-read, and turned around when he heard Junmyeon make an excited sound at him.

“Are you looking at my books?” Junmyeon asked, coming over to him, and Jongdae gave him an easy smile.

“You read a lot of manga,” Jongdae pointed out.

“Yeah, I, I really like manga. I’ve liked it since I was a kid. Do you like FMA?” He asked, and then cleared his throat. “Fullmetal Alchemist.”

“Uhm, I think I read some of it when I was in high school but I didn’t read all of it. I did like it, though,” Jongdae said. He put the book back and looked at a few more of the titles, and snorted when he saw a collection of Fruits Basket volumes. “You read Fruits Basket?”

“I did when it was publishing, it’s done now,” Junmyeon said, and Jongdae grinned.

“I only know this because I remember a lot of my female friends reading it, it’s for girls, isn’t it?”

Junmyeon made an affronted sound. “It’s for everyone.”

“I guess that’s true. I never read it. I remember, like, Megaman, and Astro Boy, from when I was really young. Like in grade school.”

“I used to read those!” Junmyeon said excitedly, and Jongdae laughed just from how eager he was. “Uhm, okay, are you tired? You said you were tired earlier. We could go to bed, or watch a movie or something. Watch some anime.”

“I am kinda tired, I guess we could get into bed,” Jongdae said, and Junmyeon smiled at him.

“Can I give you another hickey?” He asked, and Jongdae grinned from his boldness.

“Ahh, that sounds great, sure.” Jongdae felt a little drunk as Junmyeon took his hand and led him over to his bed, then pushed him down so he was laying down on it. Jongdae let out a laugh and shrugged out of his jacket, kicking his shoes off at the same time, and Junmyeon scrambled to take his shoes off as well.

Jongdae didn’t know whether or not to take his shirt off but Junmyeon did, immediately putting his hands at the bottom of Jongdae’s shirt to lift it over his head when he was done with his shoes. Jongdae laughed a little and made a soft sound when Junmyeon put his mouth on Jongdae’s exposed neck, going for the side opposite of where the last hickey was. He softly started to kiss and suck on the skin there and Jongdae laid down, Junmyeon following him.

Jongdae liked the feeling but didn’t really want Junmyeon to make a bruise as big as the last one, so he patted Junmyeon’s shoulder after a while to get his attention. “Hey, hey,” he said as Junmyeon sat up, and then blinked at him. “Can I do something for you?”

“What’s that?” Junmyeon lifted a hand to wipe his mouth.

“I want to give you head. Y’know, since you did it for me.” Last night. Jongdae had had sex with Junmyeon last night. And now he was doing it again. Wow, once he started having sex again, he couldn’t stop himself. He was really into that.

“Okay, okay,” Junmyeon said excitedly, moving to sit down on the bed, and Jongdae chuckled at his eagerness. Jongdae moved to get in between his legs on the floor and put a hand on the front of Junmyeon’s slacks, feeling his crotch through his pants. Junmyeon was already a little bit hard from sucking on Jongdae’s neck and Jongdae liked it.

Jongdae undid Junmyeon’s belt and pulled his zipper down, and Junmyeon helped him push his boxers down enough to take out his cock. Jongdae concluded that he liked this cock, even if it was a little bit smaller than Yixing’s. It was nice to look at and Junmyeon knew how to use it, which was always a plus. Jongdae took the tip into his mouth and tried to replicate how Yixing had sucked his cock this morning, and apparently Junmyeon appreciated it, going by the soft moaning sounds he was making.

He got hard very quickly and it made Jongdae feel like a champion dicksucker, which he was proud of. Once Jongdae thought Junmyeon had gotten to his full length he took the entire thing into his throat and swirled his tongue around it, making Junmyeon groan lowly. “Oh, fuck, Jongdae,” he said, and then caught himself, dropping his voice. “Fuck, we have to be quiet, I think my roommate is still awake.”

“Mhm,” Jongdae replied, since that’s all he could manage with a dick in his mouth. He bobbed his mouth up and down on Junmyeon’s cock and listened to the breathy sounds Junmyeon was making, and then pulled up to spit on it and rub it with his hand. Junmyeon groaned louder and Jongdae smirked up at him. “It feels good?”

“Yes, you’re really good,” Junmyeon told him, and Jongdae smiled before taking his cock back into his mouth. He took all of it into his mouth and moaned around it, feeling it stretch his throat and liking it. Junmyeon made a high-pitched sound and Jongdae sucked his cock harder, moving his head up and down and reaching a hand over to play with Junmyeon’s balls. This got him a louder sound and Jongdae would’ve laughed at it if he could.

He sucked Junmyeon’s cock as hard as he could while he rubbed his balls in his hand, and when Junmyeon started to shyly thrust his hips up, he accommodated the movement with his mouth. Jongdae moaned a little when Junmyeon started to move more boldly, and Jongdae liked the feeling of getting his throat fucked. After a while Junmyeon put his hand on top of Jongdae’s head to get his attention, and Jongdae moved off of him.

“What?” Jongdae asked him, and Junmyeon breathed down at him, his eyelids low.

“I want to fuck you, I really want to fuck you. You felt so good last night. Can I fuck you again?”

Jongdae felt a little strange having sex with Junmyeon again so soon, but...it was great sex and why the fuck not. “Of course, yeah. I liked fucking you last night too.”

“Oh, you’re so fucking hot,” Junmyeon groaned as he rolled off of the bed. He stepped out of his pants and boxers and then moved to the bathroom that was on the opposite side of the room, and Jongdae climbed up on the bed, taking his pants and boxers off to throw them off the side of the bed.

Junmyeon returned with a bottle of lube and then stopped, looking at Jongdae. “You want me to put on a condom, right?”

Jongdae looked at him for a moment before responding. “Uhm, yes, of course.”

“Alright,” Junmyeon nodded, going back into his bathroom. Jongdae snorted softly and laid down on the bed, reaching a hand down to play with his hardening cock. Junmyeon came back with a condom and threw it down to the bed, climbing up in between Jongdae’s legs and opening the lube to pour some out onto his fingers. “Is this okay?”

“Yeah, it is,” Jongdae told him, and Junmyeon pressed a finger at Jongdae’s entrance, hesitating a moment before pushing it inside. Jongdae yelped a little from the pain and then put his hand over his mouth, remembering to be quiet.

Junmyeon made a worried expression down at Jongdae and Jongdae lifted his hand to wave at him. “It’s fine, it’s fine, keep going.”

Junmyeon nodded and pushed his finger farther in, then pulled it away slowly, then put it back in. Jongdae got used to the feeling of Junmyeon fingering him languidly, and moaned when Junmyeon introduced a second finger after a while. “You look so hot, laying here like this,” Junmyeon groaned at him, and Jongdae grinned.

“Thank you,” he didn’t know what else to say, and Junmyeon started to finger him faster. He moaned and got used to the pain, rocking his hips back up to get more pleasure out of it, and Junmyeon bit his lip into his mouth as he watched Jongdae writhing against his hand. After a while he moved his fingers back to pour more lube on them, and then added a third into Jongdae’s hole, pushing harder than before. Jongdae groaned and gripped the bedsheets in his hands. “Fuck.”

“Feels good, doesn’t it?” Junmyeon grinned down at him as he fucked him with his fingers, and Jongdae nodded.

“Feels so fucking good-- ahh--” his breath hitched in his throat when Junmyeon tried to put a fourth in. “Oh my god.”

“Too much?” Junmyeon asked.

“Try it,” Jongdae told him, and Junmyeon laughed out loud, adding the fourth finger and fingering him hard. After a while Jongdae found that he didn’t really like the feeling of being stretched so wide, and he grunted. “No, I don’t like it. Can you take it out?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry, baby,” Junmyeon told him, taking the fourth finger out, and Jongdae nodded.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Jongdae said, moaning softly as Junmyeon fucked him hard again. After a while he pulled his fingers out and groaned under his breath.

“So fucking hot,” he said, moving his hand to his cock to stroke it.

“I want to get on top of you,” Jongdae said, swallowing hard, and Junmyeon grinned down at him before collapsing to the bed.

“Alright, baby. Can you open this?” He reached over to hand him the condom and Jongdae opened it quickly, pulling the condom out and moving over to put it on Junmyeon’s cock. Junmyeon moaned as Jongdae slipped it on him and then rubbed his dick up and down a few times, and when Jongdae leaned down to take it into his mouth he made a soft yelping noise. “Ahh!”

Jongdae pulled up and then laughed at him. “Ugh, latex tastes so gross.”

“Right?” Junmyeon agreed, his laugh sounding weak and distracted. Jongdae picked up the bottle of lube and poured some out onto Junmyeon’s cock, rubbing it up and down a few times before moving to straddle Junmyeon’s hips.

“You ready?”

“Of course,” Junmyeon told him, grinning up at him, and Jongdae positioned himself over Junmyeon’s cock carefully, gritting his teeth as he started to sit down on it.

Junmyeon let out a loud groan when he felt his cock being pressed inside of Jongdae, and Jongdae laughed down at him. “I thought we were supposed to be quiet.”

“I can’t help it when you feel like this,” Junmyeon said breathily, and just the sentence made Jongdae moan. He moved slowly until he was sitting completely in Junmyeon’s lap, and then sat up a little bit, making himself moan again. Junmyeon’s cock felt rock hard inside of him and he loved the feeling.

“Shit, you feel so good,” he said, figuring that he might as well tell Junmyeon that he was enjoying it. Junmyeon grinned and moved to put a hand on Jongdae’s ass, and Jongdae bit his lip into his mouth at the touch. He rocked his hips up and down slowly, letting himself get used to the feeling of Junmyeon’s cock inside of him, and he moaned softly with each movement down. “Fuck, oh my god.”

Junmyeon thrusted his hips up a little bit and Jongdae moaned louder, unable to stop himself. Jongdae tried to drop his hips at the same time Junmyeon thrusted his up and then froze still at how deep it sent Junmyeon’s cock inside of him. “Fuck!” He exclaimed, and then laughed. “Shit, sorry, I know I have to be quiet.”

“If you can’t help it then let it out, baby,” Junmyeon smirked at him, and Jongdae felt himself getting hotter just from the look on his face. Junmyeon was really hot and Jongdae felt taken care of when he was fucking him. He kept riding up and down on Junmyeon’s cock and Junmyeon reached his free hand over to wrap around Jongdae’s cock.

Jongdae whimpered softly when he felt Junmyeon’s hand on his cock, and started to ride up and down faster, unable to help himself. Junmyeon started jerking his cock faster and Jongdae moaned. “Oh my god, that feels good.” Junmyeon put his palm on the tip of Jongdae’s cock and rubbed it hard, and Jongdae doubled over, feeling weak. “Fuck!”

“Oh, come here, baby, unnh, fuck,” Junmyeon slapped Jongdae’s ass with his hand and while Jongdae moaned from it, Junmyeon moved to press his lips against Jongdae’s. Jongdae moaned against his lips and then suddenly felt weird, as if he was doing something he shouldn’t be. Fuck for some reason he really didn’t want to kiss Junmyeon right now. He was afraid that Yixing would be mad at him. _Why the hell would Yixing be mad at you._ He needed to stop thinking about Yixing because it was sort of ruining his sex life but fuck he felt like he only wanted to kiss Yixing, like his lips were reserved for Yixing’s only and shit what was he doing here-- he moved up a little bit to take Junmyeon’s lips off of his own and Junmyeon thrusted into him hard, making him groan.

“Oh my god,” Jongdae breathed, and found comfort when Junmyeon started to bite at his neck. He was glad Junmyeon was able to find another way to keep his mouth busy, and he decided quietly that he could fuck him as long as he wasn’t kissing him. Sure. Sure, his conscience would let him live with that. He felt his cock rubbing up against Junmyeon’s tight abdomen as he rocked his hips on Junmyeon’s dick and moaned, feeling relaxed and weak. Junmyeon’s dick hit his prostate and Jongdae let out a whimpery groan, bouncing up and down on his cock to stimulate that spot.

Junmyeon slapped his ass again and then groaned, thrusting his cock deep inside of Jongdae and breathing heavily. “Fuck, you feel so good. Can I turn you over?”

“Yes, ahh,” Jongdae said, grateful for it since his legs were starting to feel kind of tired anyway. Junmyeon sat up and turned Jongdae onto his back on the bed, maneuvering himself onto his knees without pulling his cock out, and Jongdae moaned out loud from the hot feeling of being filled up. Junmyeon put both hands on Jongdae’s thighs and spread his legs apart further, shoving his cock in harder and throwing his head back.

“Ahh, fuck! Fuck, you’re so tight,” Junmyeon moaned, licking his lips, and Jongdae watched his tongue move with his eyelids low. He moved a hand to jerk his own cock and rubbed it quickly, feeling like he was close from how hard Junmyeon was fucking him.

“Please, fuck right there,” Jongdae begged when Junmyeon’s cock found his prostate again, and Junmyeon laughed a little and angled himself to thrust in that direction each time. Jongdae groaned loudly and rocked his hips back against Junmyeon’s, rubbing his dick in his hand rapidly and feeling sweat drip down his temple. “Fuck! Fuck! That feels so good, oh my god, Junmyeon--”

“Say my name,” Junmyeon told him, and Jongdae grunted.

“Junmyeon! Fuck!”

“Ahh, god, _yes_ ,” Junmyeon moaned, licking his lips again as he watched Jongdae move under him. Jongdae closed his eyes and groaned, and Junmyeon thrusted against him hard. “Baby, can I do something? Can I choke you? I won't hurt you I-I swear and it’ll make you cum hard.”

“Oh, fuck, do it,” Jongdae said breathlessly, and he opened his eyes when Junmyeon put his hand on his throat, because it was new. Junmyeon pressed his hand lightly around Jongdae’s throat and Jongdae let out a strangled moan.

“Relax, baby,” Junmyeon took the pressure off and Jongdae breathed quickly, moaning at how Junmyeon’s cock hit his prostate over and over again, and when Junmyeon pressed his hand around his throat again he started to jerk his cock faster. His orgasm hit him faster than he was expecting and it was intense, making him groan loudly through muffled breaths. He closed his eyes and saw stars in his vision, and when he opened them again the stars remained, looking fuzzy and brightly colored as his body rocked up and down. Holy shit holy shit holy shit. After a moment Junmyeon took his hand off of Jongdae’s throat and Jongdae inhaled sharply, his throat opening up and breathing in deeply. His heart felt like it was pounding out of his chest and holy _shit_ that was the most ridiculous thing he had ever felt. The stars were fading but were still there, and when Jongdae’s eyes refocused he saw Junmyeon grinning at him.

“You like that?” Junmyeon asked him, and Jongdae had no words to respond with, just moaned and nodded weakly. He attempted to rock back against Junmyeon as best he could but he felt completely worn out, as if his orgasm had taken every last bit of energy from him. Junmyeon was still pounding away at him, and Jongdae moaned at the feeling of Junmyeon’s cock deep inside him, enjoying his enthusiasm.

Junmyeon groaned deeply after a while and the sound was hot and low, and probably one of the hottest things Jongdae had ever heard, he thought as Junmyeon thrusted into him a few more times before slowing down and breathing hard. Junmyeon thrusted once more and then shivered all over, his head dropping, and Jongdae laughed at him. “Fuck! Junmyeon!”

“Unnh, my god,” Junmyeon moaned, pulling his cock out of Jongdae’s hole shakily and then sitting back to collect himself. Jongdae felt exhausted just watching him, and breathed heavily himself, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. Sex was so goddamn fun. No wonder he was doing this all the time.

He laid there trying to relax for a few moments, not registering Junmyeon taking the condom off and getting off of the bed to throw it out. When Junmyeon climbed back into bed with him he opened his eyes and looked over at him. “I-- uhm. I. That.”

Junmyeon grinned and leaned over to kiss his cheek. “I love it when I can make ‘em speechless, mm.”

“Fuck you, Junmyeon, that was too much,” Jongdae breathed, and Junmyeon’s grin only grew wider as he snuggled up against Jongdae’s side.

“Here, get under the covers with me,” he said, pulling the sheets back, and Jongdae grunted.

“I feel really hot,” he said, but he got under the covers anyway. “Shit. What-- what time is it?”

“It’s...” Junmyeon turned around to reach for his phone on his bedside table. “It’s 3:37.”

“I think I have class in the morning, it’ll be Monday, right?”

“Yeah, it’s Monday.”

“Fuck.” Jongdae sat up, and then immediately fell back down in the bed. No way was he going back to his dorm right now, he was too fucking tired. “I have to get up early.”

“Want me to set an alarm?”

“Yeah, uhm, can you set it for...eight, please,” he said, and Junmyeon nodded, poking around at his phone. After a moment Junmyeon set his phone down.

“Alright, we’ll wake up then,” he said, and then returned to Jongdae’s side, snuggling close to him. Jongdae let out a slow breath as Junmyeon relaxed against him.

“Thank you, uhm, for letting me sleep over,” Jongdae said, and Junmyeon laughed.

“Of course. Thank you for being sexy as hell.”

Jongdae thought that was the lamest thing anyone had ever said to him but he laughed at it anyway. “Ahh, you’re welcome.”

“Mm...” Junmyeon nestled his head onto Jongdae’s neck and breathed slowly, and Jongdae listened to him exhaling softly near his ear. He thought that Junmyeon sounded cute when he was tired, and after a while he figured that Junmyeon had fallen asleep. Jongdae groaned softly, trying not to wake Junmyeon up but feeling bad for himself. He had been exhausted earlier but now he just felt really relaxed and kind of awake.

He laid there and closed his eyes, trying to get to sleep, but it wasn’t working. _Damnit, you have to wake up in four hours, go to sleep._ That wasn’t going to work. He listened to Junmyeon breathing and tried to match his exhales, but that didn’t help either. Junmyeon just sounded like a tired puppy or something.

Jongdae laid there for what felt like an hour, staring up at the ceiling and thinking over everything he had to do tomorrow. He was tired but he couldn’t sleep, and he was dreading how tired he was going to be during class. He wondered if it was because he was trying to sleep in a new place, and sighed. If that was the problem then it was going to be a long night. He leaned his head against Junmyeon’s and tried to get some rest. Surely he’d be able to get to sleep after a while, sex was supposed to knock him out.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [here's](http://i.imgur.com/KrhIosN.jpg) the picture kyuhyun showed junmyeon btw  
>  thank you for reading i love you <3


	18. jongdae has a lot of feelings and finds a solution

When the alarm Junmyeon had set went off at 8am Jongdae startled awake and then immediately groaned at how sluggish he felt. He sat up, realizing he had to get back to his school, and glanced over to see that Junmyeon was still asleep. His phone was playing some Korean song that Jongdae didn’t recognize, and Jongdae was amused by how Junmyeon was able to sleep through it. He leaned over Junmyeon’s body to pick up his phone and turn it off, but was met with a passcode he didn’t know how to unlock.

“Junmyeon,” he said, shaking Junmyeon’s shoulder, and Junmyeon stirred awake and blinked up at him confusedly.

“Hey?” He asked, and Jongdae handed him his phone.

“Your phone’s going off,” Jongdae said, and he got out of bed while Junmyeon unlocked it. Junmyeon turned the alarm off and then put his phone back down on his bedside table, rolling over onto his side with a groan. Jongdae smirked a little and rubbed sleep from his eyes as he wandered around the room looking for his clothes in the mess on the floor.

Jongdae thought Junmyeon had fallen asleep because of how quiet he was, so when he got all his clothes on and turned around to look at Junmyeon he was surprised to see him sitting up in bed and watching him with puffy eyes. “Thanks for letting me sleep over,” Jongdae told him, and Junmyeon smiled.

“Of course. What are you doing today?”

“I have a bunch of classes and then I’ve got work tonight. I don’t really have anything special planned, though.”

“Do you want to get dinner tonight?” Junmyeon asked, rubbing his biceps with his hands. “Before you have to go to work or something.”

Jongdae watched him for a moment, and then bit his lip into his mouth. Junmyeon was kind of clingy but he was really damn cute so Jongdae wasn’t too upset about it. He thought back to how awkward he felt last night when Junmyeon kissed him and felt his heart drop.

Maybe he shouldn’t have spent the night here, maybe he shouldn’t have bothered at all. He was aware that Junmyeon had a thing for him and Jongdae was pretty sure he didn’t feel the same way. He felt as if he was leading Junmyeon on, and fuck he really shouldn’t have done that. Not when he had to figure out what the hell was going on with Yixing.

Apparently Jongdae had waited too long to answer Junmyeon’s question, because Junmyeon dropped his gaze and Jongdae panicked. “Ahh, Junmyeon, uhm, I don’t really think I can.”

“That’s fine, I know you’re busy,” Junmyeon said, bringing his eyes up to look at Jongdae again, and Jongdae frowned.

“No, that’s...that’s not it.” Jongdae sighed. “Junmyeon, I know you like me, but, uhm, I’m kind of involved in something right now. With someone. With Yixing. I don’t know what’s going on with Yixing.”

“Ahh, really?” Junmyeon’s brow furrowed a little bit and Jongdae felt bad just for making him make such an expression. “The other night you told me you guys weren’t dating.”

“I know, we’re not dating, we’re really not, but I think I want to be.” Jongdae felt his stomach drop. Maybe that wasn’t something he should be saying to Junmyeon, but it was out and now he didn’t know how to stop himself from continuing. “I think about him a lot, and I just, I don’t know, I compare everything to him. It’s kind of stupid. I feel infatuated. But it means I like him a lot and I shouldn’t mess around with other people until I figure out what to do with Yixing because that would be rude of me, it would be rude of me to lead you on when I’m-- emotionally compromised or whatever.” Jongdae exhaled a deep breath and studied the thoughtful expression on Junmyeon’s face. “I’m very sorry.”

“That’s...I don’t mind that,” Junmyeon said after a moment, and Jongdae felt a rush of relief. “If you like him I don’t want to hold you back. I thought you liked him, anyway.”

“Was it really that obvious?” Jongdae breathed, unable to stop the smile stretching his face.

Junmyeon smiled somewhat sadly. “Kinda. At least it was obvious there was something going on between you two. He likes you too.”

Jongdae squawked at the idea. “He does not, I don’t think so. I think he likes being my friend but it doesn’t go any farther than that.”

“Maybe, I don’t know him.” Junmyeon shrugged and then blinked at Jongdae, and Jongdae didn’t know what else to say. Junmyeon stared at him for a moment more and then fell back onto his bed, sighing. “This always happens to me.”

Jongdae would’ve felt bad but a small smile tugged at the sides of his mouth anyway. “Ahh, Junmyeon. I think you-- should I say this?” He caught himself, and Junmyeon turned a little bit on his side so he could look at Jongdae.

“Should you say what?”

“I’ll say it. I think you tend to fall people really easily. That’s why you’re having trouble. Because finding one person who likes you in such a way is hard enough, I know that, so if you look for it from everyone you’re gonna have to face a lot of trouble before you actually find something good.”

Junmyeon blinked at Jongdae for another moment, but he didn’t look upset so Jongdae didn’t feel bad for reading him like that. “You’re right,” Junmyeon said finally, and Jongdae smiled. “You’re right about that. That makes sense.”

Suddenly there was banging on Junmyeon’s bedroom door and both Jongdae and Junmyeon jumped to attention at the noise. “Junmyeon!” Minho called from the opposite side of the door, and Junmyeon groaned out loud, which made Jongdae laugh. “Junmyeon! Don’t you have class?”

Jongdae grinned and turned to look at Junmyeon. “Is that true?”

“It’s Monday, is it?” Junmyeon asked.

“Yeah.”

Junmyeon just groaned again and Minho kept banging on the door. “Junmyeon, you have class in like half an hour!”

Jongdae burst out laughing and went to go answer the door. Minho looked a little taken aback when Jongdae was the one who appeared, but then blinked the shocked expression from his eyes. “Good morning, Jongdae.” He peered around Jongdae to frown at Junmyeon in his bed. “Don’t you have an eight-thirty?”

“I’m really tired, I don’t want to go,” Junmyeon whined, and Minho made an offended sound as if that was the worst thing Junmyeon could’ve possibly said.

“Well you’re gonna be late if you just lay around right now.”

“Really, Minho, it’s not that big a deal, I don’t skip that much,” Junmyeon tried to excuse himself, and as Jongdae watched him lay there like a limp noodle he wondered if that was true or not. Minho rolled his eyes and stepped away from the door.

“Fine, if you’re so tired I’ll let you sleep. I’m going to work.”

“Have fun,” Junmyeon told him, and when Minho went back into the living room Jongdae turned to grin at Junmyeon.

“I’m gonna head out too. Have a good day if you end up going to school. I mean, have a good day regardless of that, of course.”

Junmyeon gave him an easy smile that Jongdae was glad to see. “You too, Jongdae. I’ll see you at your club tonight, maybe.”

“Awesome.” Jongdae paused for a second. “You know I still really enjoy your company, y’know. Like I want to be friends.”

“Of course,” Junmyeon said, like he wasn’t expecting anything else, and Jongdae felt comforted.

“Sleep well,” Jongdae told him before leaving the room and closing the door behind him. He watched Minho sitting on the couch poking around his smartphone for a few moments before figuring out what to say to him. “It was really nice to meet you, Minho. I’ve gotta run now.”

Minho’s head perked up and his eyes went wide again, and Jongdae wondered if that was a default expression for him. His face broke into a wide smile as he got up from the couch and went over to Jongdae with outstretched arms. “You too! I hope you’ll come visit again,” he said as he took Jongdae into a hug, and Jongdae laughed, returning it.

“Yeah, I’ll try to,” Jongdae said as Minho let go of him. Minho nodded and smiled at him.

“I’ll see you.”

“Bye, thanks for having me,” Jongdae replied, going over to the front door and leaving from it. After the door was closed he sighed softly and felt a new wave of exhaustion rush over him. He really had no idea how he was going to survive class today, but he was going to attempt it. He felt a lot better after confessing his feelings about Yixing, even if it was to Junmyeon of all people. Junmyeon had accepted the news well and Jongdae was glad for it. Maybe he’d be able to figure out what to do about it once he woke up more.

* * *

 

Jongdae managed to stay awake through his 10am class, but after he returned to his dorm room and laid down, he slept through all of his afternoon classes. When he woke up at a little after five he wasn’t too worried, since he rarely skipped his classes in the first place. This wasn’t going to get him in any sort of trouble, so he just stretched on his bed and thanked himself for taking care of himself.

He was thinking about emailing his professors apologizing for his absence when his mind drifted off to Yixing, as it was wont to do. He was sure that Yixing would be at work tonight so maybe he could talk to him then. That seemed like the best thing for him to do, instead of frantically texting him or something. Jongdae sat up from his bed and reached for his laptop to put some music on to fight off the silence of his little dorm room.

Every couple of songs Jongdae’s mind would try to script something for him to say to Yixing but he kept trying to push it out of his mind. The more he freaked out about it the more awkward he’d be, he thought, so he was going to just save everything for later in the night. He was still mulling a few choice lines over in his head on the bus ride to work a few hours later, and once he opened the notes app on his phone to write something down he cursed out loud at himself and turned his phone off. He was being obsessive. He needed to not worry about it and just get it done with.

When he went backstage people were still trickling in and Yixing wasn’t there, which Jongdae didn’t know whether to be thankful for or not. He was afraid that seeing Yixing in person would completely scare him out of the entire confession idea and then he’d have to live the rest of his life wallowing in this weird infatuation. He sat down at Hakyeon’s chair and threw his backpack to the floor abruptly, which made Tao jump in his seat and curse, since he had been trying to meticulously touch up his eyeliner.

“Fuck you, don’t be making that noise when I’ve got a stick of wood right next to my eye.”

Jongdae frowned in his direction. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have dropped it like that. Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine. Damn, you apologize so sincerely that I can’t even be mad,” Tao laughed and leaned closer to his mirror to continue putting his makeup on, and Jongdae gave him a shy smile while he watched him.

“Where’s Hakyeon? He hasn’t been here in like a week.”

“Kris told me he took some time off for something.”

“For what?”

“Didn’t say.”

Jongdae pursed his lips. Hakyeon usually wasn’t one to be so mysterious. “Are you serious? He didn’t tell me, he totally would’ve told me. Is he travelling or something?”

“I dunno, Kris didn’t tell me any more than that. He’s probably fine.” Tao didn’t seemed too worried about it and that was calming Jongdae. Jongdae took his leather jacket off and draped it over the chair, feeling like he could make himself at home.

“I’ll just adopt this chair until Hakyeon comes back, then,” Jongdae said with a nod, and he saw the side of Tao’s face perk up with a smile. Jongdae dug into his backpack to pull his laptop out, and as he was setting it up on the vanity Tao finished his makeup and looked over at him.

“Ahh, you’ve got another bruise,” Tao sang at him, and Jongdae choked back a laugh.

“Do I?” He asked innocently.

“Don’t play dumb. Who are you fucking?”

“I’m not fucking aaaanyone.”

“You’re fucking Yixing, aren’t you? That’s wild.”

Jongdae laughed at him. “Ahh, maybe I’m fucking him.”

Tao scoffed indignantly. “ _Maybe_ you’re fucking him? Do you not know? When you’re having sex with him are you unclear if it’s happening or not?” Jongdae couldn’t stifle his laughter and Tao sighed at him. “Answer me!”

Jongdae leaned forward on Hakyeon’s vanity, putting his head down on it and turning to look at Tao with big eyes. “I’m trying to be coy, Tao, I’m trying to confuse you.”

“Don’t do that! Be a good friend to me and spill about your sexual conquests, Jongdae!” Tao cried, and when Jongin entered the backstage area through the curtain Tao and Jongdae both stopped gazing at each other to welcome him. After they had greeted him they went right back to each other. “Tell me!”

“I dunno, Tao.”

“Jongin! Jongdae refuses to tell me who he’s sleeping with,” Tao called out, turning around in his seat so he could give Jongin an outraged look, and Jongin simply stared at them with wide eyes for a moment before smiling softly.

“Maybe it’s your boyfriend.”

Jongdae guffawed at just the idea of sleeping with Kris and Tao croaked. “What the fuck are you talking about? Absolutely not!”

Jongin started to laugh and Jongdae grinned at him. “You shouldn’t be so loose with that, Jongin,” he teased, and Tao glanced back at him, then back to Jongin.

“You’re being assholes! I was with Kris last night, I know you’re not fucking him! Damn!” Tao couldn’t help but laugh exhaustedly at them, and it made Jongdae smile. “And even if I hadn’t been with him last night, I’d know he wasn’t fucking you. You’d be limping around.”

Jongdae almost choked on his spit. “Oh my god, Tao, that’s gross.”

Tao gave him a devilish grin and Jongdae just groaned at him. “Hey, it’s the truth.”

“I don’t want to think about that, he’s my boss.” Jongdae glanced up when the backstage curtain flew open and his breath hitched in his throat. Awh shit this was really going to happen, wasn’t it. He looked Yixing up and down, taking in his fully clothed form for as long as he could, since he didn’t think he saw it very often.

“I’m not late, am I?” Yixing said, looking around the room and easing a smile when he saw Jongdae. Jongdae smiled back at him and Tao checked his phone.

“You’re like ten minutes late,” Tao informed him.

“That’s good for me. Awesome.” Yixing walked by Jongin to ruffle his hair and Jongdae watched Jongin smile as he adjusted his hair back into place with his hand, then moved his attention to Yixing crossing the room to go over to his vanity. He saw Yixing put his bag down then heard him grunt before heading towards the hallway that led to the dressing rooms. Jongdae said nothing as Yixing disappeared down it, and then sighed to himself. The time would present itself, he figured.

Yixing didn’t come back out for another twenty minutes but when he did he was shirtless so Jongdae didn’t mind the wait. He let himself stare for a little bit when he was sure Yixing was preoccupied with his conversation with Sanghyuk, and when Yixing turned his attention to his side of the room Jongdae glanced away.

“Yixing, come over here, I wanna show you something,” Tao said, his eyes trained to his phone, and Jongdae watched them out of the corner of his eye. Yixing came over and stood by Tao’s chair like Tao was going to show him something on his phone, but then Tao looked up and pointed at Jongdae. “Look at that thing on Jongdae’s neck.”

Jongdae sputtered and almost pulled the collar of his shirt up, but thought maybe that would get him in bigger trouble. Yixing laughed and closed in on him, lifting a hand to knock away the one Jongdae had put over the hickey on his neck. When Yixing saw the bruise he laughed loudly, throwing his head back, and Jongdae rolled his eyes with a fond smile. “Fuck’s this? You’re covered in hickeys now.”

“It’s a fashion statement,” Jongdae said shortly, and Yixing smirked at him.

“Your whole neck’s purple.”

“It is not.”

“Damn near close. You’ve got both sides all fucked up now.”

“He won’t tell me who it’s from,” Tao complained, and Yixing snorted.

“Could be from me, I can’t remember.” Jongdae opened his mouth to squawk indignantly at Yixing, but then Yixing’s brow furrowed a bit while he studied the marks on Jongdae’s neck. “No, that’s not right, that one’s new.”

“Tao, stop trying to dig into my sex life,” Jongdae told him, and while Tao turned his nose up at him, Yixing swatted down on Tao’s shoulder with a limp hand.

“Yeah, let him be. Maybe he doesn’t wanna talk about it.” Yixing gave Jongdae a quick glance before looking back to Tao, and Jongdae caught it with a thankful smile.

“Fuck are you talking about? You always mess with people with me.”

“Jongdae’s too sweet, it’s like kicking a puppy. Mess with him,” Yixing lifted a hand to motion at Jongin, and Jongin looked up at the movement. “He’s not coming to work covered in hickeys much anymore.”

Jongin’s face spread in a tight smile and Tao made a disappointed sound. “Jongin’s boyfriend is vanilla as hell.”

“He is not,” Jongin said, his smile spreading wider, but he dropped it from his face when he saw the entertained expressions Yixing and Tao were sending him. “I mean, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“Sure, if you _like_ that,” Yixing laughed.

Jongin made a sound of dissent and opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off when Sehun burst through the backstage curtains and immediately started talking. “I hate starting,” Sehun complained, going over to his vanity and throwing the shirt he was holding in his hands down on his chair. Jongdae noticed the impossibly large bulge at the front of Sehun’s tiny shorts and almost choked on his spit. Jongdae occasionally forgot how hard the dancers would get sometimes, since he was so used to the veterans walking around like it was nothing. Sehun made another whiny sound and then glanced over at Yixing and Tao. “There’s like nobody out there.”

“You’re the new guy, you have to start,” Yixing said, and it was terribly obvious that Tao and Yixing were staring at Sehun’s dick as well. Sehun pouted at Yixing for a moment for his response, but the expression slipped into a smirk when he saw where their eyes were trained.

“I still don’t like it,” he said, lifting his shirt up from his chair and using it to wipe sweat off of his chest. Jongdae stared for a while longer than he would admit, and fought back a laugh when Yixing looked away for a second, glancing in Jongdae’s direction. Tao was still staring unabashedly and Jongdae was grateful for him, and when Yixing smacked Tao’s shoulder Jongdae laughed out loud.

“What--” Tao looked up at Yixing, looking unamused at the smack, and glanced back to Sehun, then caught himself and glanced away sheepishly. Yixing smirked and then took a step towards Sehun.

“You work a lot, don’t you? Wanna work harder?” Yixing reached out and put one hand on the side of Sehun’s jaw, studying the lines there and then angling it to the other side with a quick movement of his wrist. “Do you wanna dance with me sometime?” Sehun couldn’t fight back a toothy grin as Yixing gazed at him and Jongdae felt a spark of jealousy. “We could talk to Kris.”

“That sounds fun,” Sehun said, standing there as Yixing looked over the shape of his jaw. When Yixing dropped his hand Jongdae let out a breath of relief he hadn’t registered he was holding.

“I’ll talk to him then,” Yixing said, taking a step away from Sehun, and Sehun plopped down in his chair, still eyeing Yixing carefully. Jongdae realized he had been staring at Yixing’s back for a while so he glanced downwards, then back up a couple seconds later just to look at Sehun and whatever he was hiding in his pants. Sehun picked up his phone from his vanity and looked as if he was going to be boring now, so Jongdae looked away once more, bringing his eyes to his laptop screen and trying to distract himself.

He got far enough to open his internet browser when Sehun called his name. “Jongdae, come take a picture with me,” he said, not looking up from his phone, and Jongdae turned to give him an incredulous look.

“What? With me?”

“Yeah, I’ve taken pictures with like, everyone else,” Sehun said, raising his eyes to gaze at Jongdae, and Jongdae kept staring at him.

“Are you gonna put it on the internet?”

“Yeah, it’s for instagram.”

Jongdae got up from his chair and took a few steps over to Sehun. “Am I even hot enough for your instagram?” He asked, figuring that Sehun’s page was full of the strippers he worked with, and when he said this Sehun pulled his phone away from Jongdae, pressing it to his own chest and making a quizzical expression.

“Oh, I don’t know, are you?” Sehun asked, looking like he was actually having second thoughts. Jongdae laughed out loud, finding him amusing, and then jumped when Yixing made an upset sound right by his ear.

“What the fuck are you talking about? Jongdae is as hot as hot gets,” he insisted, and Jongdae wasn’t able to stop grinning at it when Sehun rolled his eyes and grabbed his arm to pull him down next to his chair.

“Fine, take a picture with me, then. Please.”

“I’ll take it,” Yixing said, reaching his hand out for Sehun to hand him his phone, and Sehun blinked at him.

“It has to look like a selfie, like I took it.”

“Fuck that, it won’t get any less likes or whatever you’re trying to get from this if it looks like someone else took it. Give it here,” he demanded, and Sehun gave him one final look before handing Yixing his phone. Yixing turned it around and Jongdae sat down on the arm of Sehun’s chair, not knowing what to do. He watched Yixing fuss around with Sehun’s phone for a second and then hold the camera up in front of him.

“What do we do?” Jongdae asked Sehun.

“Look moody or something,” Sehun said, and Jongdae glanced over at him to see Sehun’s gaze trained away from the camera in an effort to look careless and cool. Jongdae blinked, not entirely sure how to mimic this.

“I’m gonna take it,” Yixing said, and Jongdae looked back at him, a smile growing on his face out of awkwardness. The flash on Sehun’s phone went off as the picture took and when it was done Sehun made a sound of disappointment.

“Turn the flash off, the lighting’s good enough in here,” he said, and Yixing threw his head back in laughter as he looked at Sehun’s phone.

“Oh my god! ‘Look moody’, he says, and here's Jongdae straight-up cheesing at the camera,” Yixing cracked up, and Jongdae couldn’t help but give him an easy smile.

“Ahh, I didn’t know what to do! I always just smile in pictures!”

“Give,” Sehun said shortly, holding his hand out to Yixing, and Yixing handed him the phone. Sehun looked at it and groaned immediately, but stopped halfway through the sound, a surprised look on his face. “Ahh, this is better than I thought it would be. The flash isn’t really there at all.”

Jongdae looked over Sehun’s shoulder at his phone and saw that his grin was indeed cheesy. “Awh, I look dumb.”

“No, I kinda like this, you look cute.” Jongdae groaned at Sehun and Sehun committed. “No, you look cute, Jongdae! Can I post this?”

“ _Fine_ , sure, whatever. Those people don’t know me,” Jongdae said, feeling like a cranky old man.

“My dick’s kinda covered by my leg, right?” Sehun asked, and Jongdae blinked down at the photo, studying it for a second. He swallowed, not entirely sure what he was supposed to be looking for.

“Yeah, it looks fine.” Jongdae glanced up at Yixing and noticed him smirking down at him, and then was struck with inspiration. _Do it now. He just called you hot. He likes you Jongdae he likes you. Do it now._ “Come with me,” Jongdae said, shooting up from Sehun’s chair and grabbing Yixing’s arm. Yixing made a surprised sound but followed Jongdae as Jongdae pulled him down the backstage hallway, not stopping to see if anyone was looking at them. He dragged Yixing into the dressing room that he knew belonged to him and closed the door with finality, turning around to look at Yixing and exhale loudly.

Yixing was staring at him, looking a mixture of wild and confused and expectant. “What are you doing?”

“I-- I want to talk to you.”

“Really? About what?”

Jongdae had gotten this far going unscripted, he figured he could manage a little bit more. “I just-- I’ve been thinking about you a lot. Is that okay?”

Yixing snorted. “What do you mean, ‘is that okay?’ I don’t care, you’re allowed to think about whatever you want. If you wanna think about me, that’s cool.”

“It’s not really that I wanna think about you, it’s that I can’t help it.” Jongdae swallowed. “And, I mean, I wanna think about you too. You’re nice to think about.”

“Ahh, that’s sweet of you to say.”

“Yixing, I like you,” Jongdae blurted out, unable to stop himself. He thought that he would’ve felt better after saying it but he found that he felt no improvement at all. “I like you. Like more than a friend, I think. I’ve got a crush on you. Or maybe more than that, I don’t know. I don’t know what to call what I’m feeling.”

Yixing blinked at him, and Jongdae had absolutely no idea how to read the expression on his face. Sometimes Yixing was so damn vague and impossible that Jongdae wanted to scream. “Jongdae, that’s--” he broke himself off with a laugh, and Jongdae was comforted just by seeing a smile on his face. “I can’t believe you just said that. Ahah.”

“Really?” Jongdae frowned, and Yixing nodded.

“I mean, I thought you’ve been kinda sweet on me for a while now. I just wasn’t expecting you to say it.”

Jongdae wanted to grumble at how Yixing had apparently figured him out long before this but he was trying not to ruin the moment. “Well I said it. I want you to be my boyfriend.” Holy shit that was a bold thing he just said. He swallowed hard and tried his best not to panic and take his words back or burst into tears like a frightened little child.

“Jongdae! Jongdae what the fuck!” Yixing laughed again and Jongdae didn’t know if he liked this response. “I can’t believe you’re doing this!”

“What, what, why? You’re not comforting me,” Jongdae groaned, and Yixing waved his hands at him.

“No, no, I don’t mean it in a bad way! Hell! Jongdae I fucking-- I sat at home all fucking day today and tried to figure out how I was going to ask _you_ that,” he lifted his hands and shook them around his head, “I wrote this nerdy little _speech_ or something like it in my fucking head, I was freaking out! Fuck you for asking me first! Fucking _tonight_? You had to do it right now? I was gonna ask you, Jongdae! You beat me to it! Damnit!”

Yixing seemed genuinely upset that Jongdae had gotten the words out first and the situation was so out of nowhere that Jongdae couldn’t do anything but laugh awkwardly. He blinked at Yixing with huge eyes after he got the first few laughs out, and then burst into more robust laughter, feeling comfortable and warm all of a sudden. “Are you serious?”

“I’m so serious! I’m so serious and I feel like such a dumb asshole right now!”

“Don’t feel like that! This is-- this is the best thing you possibly could’ve said to me, ahh! Yixing! Don’t feel bad!”

Yixing lolled his head back and closed his eyes, looking completely done with himself. “This kind of meant a lot to me!’

“Then we can-- let’s forget I said anything, alright? Do you want to do it your way? I can even, like, I can go back outside and then come in again, and we can pretend it’s a new scene.” Jongdae stepped towards the door and when he put his hand on the doorknob he grinned at Yixing. “Would that work?”

“Would you stop it? It doesn’t matter anymore! I’ve failed!” Yixing opened his eyes to gaze at Jongdae once more and a tiny smile grew on his face. Jongdae stared at the curious expression for a moment more before laughing again.

“Wow!”

“Be my boyfriend!” Yixing exclaimed, sounding jokingly commanding, and Jongdae threw his hands up in the air.

“What a wild idea! Sure, I’ll give it a shot!” Jongdae said, grinning goofily, and Yixing made a disgusted face at him.

“I can’t believe you’re doing this to me!”

“I can’t believe you want to be my boyfriend! For real!” Jongdae tittered, and Yixing scoffed, the smile on his face growing wider.

“Of course I do! I thought I made that pretty damn obvious, Jongdae! I’ve liked you for a while now, I’m just shit at saying it. I was having fun playing around with you but then it got out of control!” Yixing sighed at himself while Jongdae bounced up and down on his toes, feeling exhilarated. “That threesome we had the other night drove me the fuck insane.”

Jongdae’s brow furrowed but he couldn’t kill the grin on his face. “Really? It did?”

“Yeah! I freakin’ hated watching you fuck that douchebag. And I fucking know you did again last night--” Yixing raised an accusatory finger at Jongdae and Jongdae didn’t do anything but grin wider at him. “--but you’re not gonna do that anymore.”

“No! Never!” Jongdae said breathlessly. “Not if we’re dating.”

“We’re dating then!” Yixing said proudly.

“Yeah!”

“Alright! We did it!” Yixing was staring at Jongdae like he was going to high five him and Jongdae burst out laughing again.

“You’re so funny, oh my god. This is crazy. This can’t be happening right now, no way.” Jongdae lifted his hands to run through his hair, feeling like he was floating, and then Yixing took a few steps closer to him to push him up against the wall and replace the hands in his hair with his own.

“Jongdae,” he said shortly before pressing his lips against Jongdae’s. Jongdae let out one breathless laugh against his lips and then responded eagerly, his mind racing and crackling. He hadn’t had a boyfriend since he was in high school and he already knew that this one was better than anything he had ever had before. Yixing kissed him hotly while pressing his body up against the wall and Jongdae was content to stay there for the rest of his life, so when Yixing’s phone went off in his back pocket and Yixing cursed loudly, Jongdae groaned, feeling his blood run hot from the breath Yixing had exhaled on him.

“Fucking hell, I have to work, goddamnit,” Yixing pulled out his phone to turn the alarm off and then pouted at Jongdae. “I have to work.”

“I know, that’s fine, we are at work after all,” Jongdae said breathlessly, and Yixing smiled at him and went in for one more kiss.

“We’ll hang out later.”

“Yeah, definitely.”

“I have to work,” Yixing repeated, and Jongdae cackled at him.

“You sound like a parrot.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Yixing said as he went over to the door. Jongdae followed him closely and then hesitated once they were out in the hallway, thinking maybe it wouldn’t be the best idea to leave alongside Yixing. Yixing glanced back at him and winked, and then went out into the backstage area. Jongdae lurked in the hallway watching Yixing fuss around his vanity for a moment from his terrible vantage point, and when Yixing left through the curtain he felt safe to go back out.

He moved to Hakyeon’s chair to sit down and of course Tao noticed him immediately, since he was a brat and lived to make Jongdae’s life difficult. “Where’d you go?”

“I just needed to talk to Yixing,” Jongdae said, starting his computer up again, and Tao grunted.

“What about?”

“Just about something that happened the other night. It’s nothing,” Jongdae said, keeping his eyes trained on his computer screen, and apparently he wasn’t amusing enough because Tao dropped it then. Jongdae was grateful for that, and when he was met with his internet browser he didn’t know what to do with it. His heart was beating so hard he wondered why everyone in the room hadn’t stopped what they were doing to question where the sound was coming from. Everything had worked out so much better than he could’ve possibly imagined. Holy shit he was dating a _stripper_ and oh my god he definitely wasn’t going to call his mom about that.

Jongdae wanted to tell everyone that he was dating the hottest guy in the world but he wasn’t going to open Facebook and make a status about it, that would be stupid as hell. He didn’t know how public Yixing wanted to be with their relationship anyway. He opened the Pokémon game he had been working on in the past week, and after playing it for five minutes he got too antsy from all the new energy coursing through his veins. He got up and went over to his closet, bringing some supplies out and hoping he could go find something to work on.

He walked around and cleaned everything he could find, and returned to his laptop when there was nothing else to do. An hour passed before Yixing even showed his face backstage again and Jongdae was simultaneously frustrated and turned on by how hard he worked. Yixing smirked at him when he came back and plopped down in Tao’s chair next to Jongdae, since Tao was off doing something for once.

“Hey there,” he said casually, and Jongdae smiled at him.

“Hi,” he replied.

“Are you training to be the very best?” Yixing motioned at Jongdae’s computer screen, taking note of the Pokémon game, and Jongdae nodded.

“Like no one ever was.”

“Perfect.” Yixing was eyeing him like he wanted to fuck him right there and Jongdae didn’t know what to do about it, so he just refocused himself back on his game. He noticed Yixing smirking out of the corner of his eye and smiled a little at the expression.

Yixing got up to go to his vanity and retrieve his phone, but came right back. He sat down and put his feet up on the arm of Jongdae’s chair. “Should I put pants on?” He asked, and Jongdae laughed.

“No, never. I like you like this.”

“Good, I like me like this too,” Yixing said, and even though the next twenty minutes went by without them saying a lot to each other, Jongdae felt extremely comfortable and at ease. This was right. He was really glad he had done this. He felt so elated that he couldn’t even remember how hard he had been freaking out today.

After a while Jongdae got up to make his rounds again, and as he was standing by his closet picking things out he saw Junmyeon come in through the curtain. “Ahh, hey! I wasn’t sure if you were coming tonight.”

“I decided to just pop in,” Junmyeon said, smiling tightly at him, and Jongdae didn’t know if he should go over and hug him or not. He was involved with Yixing now but...Junmyeon was still his friend, he could do whatever the fuck he wanted, so Jongdae went over and hugged him because that’s what he wanted to do. Junmyeon seemed to appreciate the gesture and smiled more genuinely at him once he had let go. “I don’t know if I’ll stay for much longer, I’m kinda tired. I had a long day.”

“Ahh, really? What’d you--” Jongdae only got so far in his question before Yixing jumped to his feet and rushed over to take Jongdae into a domineering kiss. Jongdae’s eyes widened at the movement but he didn’t push Yixing away, instead laughed against his lips and kissed him back, holding on for maybe a moment too long to be socially acceptable. Jongdae heard Jongin making an excited sound behind them and he laughed at it, kissing Yixing until Yixing pulled away from him.

He kept one hand on Jongdae’s jaw and looked at Junmyeon with clear eyes. “This is _my_ boyfriend. _Mine_.”

Jongdae laughed at Yixing’s possessiveness and the breathless way Junmyeon smiled at him. “Ahh, I’m, uhm, I’m aware, I’m aware now,” Junmyeon told him, and Yixing raised a curious eyebrow at him, breaking into a grin.

“Good. So you can’t fucking touch him.”

“I won’t, I promise,” Junmyeon said, and Yixing patted Jongdae’s cheek once before returning to Tao’s chair. Junmyeon blinked at Jongdae once Yixing had gone away, looking a little shocked but mostly entertained, and Jongdae eased a laugh at him.

“He’s funny,” Jongdae said.

“He is,” Junmyeon agreed.

“I like him. Did you go to your class today?”

“Ahh,” Junmyeon closed his eyes and laughed at himself, “I didn’t go to my morning class but I went to all my afternoon ones.”

“That’s good, I didn’t. I guess we traded off today.” Jongdae smiled at him and then waved the handle of the mop he had pulled out of the closet. “I was gonna go off and work right now but you can stay back here with...Jongin...and Yixing,” he said as he looked around the backstage area. Those two people didn’t seem like the perfect company for Junmyeon but they were the first two he saw. Junmyeon seemed to think the same way, according to the constipated expression on his face.

“I’ll just go back out, I have a drink. Uhm. But I’ll be leaving soon.”

“Alright,” Jongdae smiled and wheeled his mop bucket out through the curtain, Junmyeon following close behind.

“Did you ask him out?” Junmyeon asked excitedly when they were out on the floor, and Jongdae whipped around to smile at him.

“Yes, yes I did. And he said he was going to ask me out tonight, too. So it was really harmonious and perfect.”

Junmyeon grinned at him. “I’m so glad it worked out.”

“Me too, me too. I’m so happy.” He studied Junmyeon’s face for a moment before blinking. Jongdae was thrilled now that he was locked down, but Junmyeon was still single, and probably painfully so, Jongdae thought as he recalled their conversation this morning. He didn’t really know what to do about that. Now was not the time to think about it, not when he had a mop in his hand. He said bye to Junmyeon and watched him go off to the bar before heading to work.

The rest of the night went by quickly, with not much happening outside of an unsavory mess Jongdae had to clean up in the men’s restroom, and as Jongdae sat backstage on his computer and said goodbye one by one to his coworkers he decided that he wanted to sleep in his own bed tonight, since he hadn’t actually done that in a while. He didn’t mind the frantic cab ride back to campus in the morning too much but it was tiring when he did it so frequently. He was going to go back to his dorm room tonight, he concluded as he packed up his laptop, but once he saw Yixing come backstage to put his clothes back on his decision swayed. He had a boyfriend now. Maybe he should spend the night with him. Wow he wanted to sleep in the same bed as Yixing tonight. He wanted to spend the night with his boyfriend.

“Hey, can I go home with you?” He asked Yixing after he threw his backpack over his shoulder and went up to him.

Yixing gave him a slow smile and nodded. “Of course, baby. Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah, I cleaned up earlier tonight,” Jongdae nodded, and Yixing sat down in his chair to very carefully tie the laces on his shoes.

“Alright, give me five minutes because I’m really bad at this,” he said, and Jongdae nearly knelt down to tie Yixing’s shoes himself before realizing that that would probably not be cute at all, since Yixing was so much older than him. _Your boyfriend is twenty-seven_ he thought quickly before breaking into a cheesy grin.

“Let’s go,” Yixing said once he was done, rising to his feet and taking Jongdae’s hand in his own. Jongdae laughed as Yixing pulled him out through the curtain, and when they were walking by the bar Jongdae caught Chanyeol’s eye, making him look up from the glass he had been drying with a cloth. Chanyeol smiled and waved bye to him, and Jongdae pointed to Yixing in front of him and mouthed the word “boyfriend” exaggeratedly at him.

“What?” Chanyeol called out in a loud voice, and Jongdae just laughed as Yixing pulled him out the front door.

The cab ride to Yixing’s place felt like absolute heaven and Jongdae didn’t know how it could get any better until they got up to Yixing’s apartment and Yixing threw his bag against the wall, ignoring the unfortunate _thump_ it made in favor of kissing Jongdae hard on the lips. Jongdae relaxed against his touch and felt warm and perfect kissing his _boyfriend_ in his _boyfriend’s_ living room. They kissed until Yixing’s lips looked pink and swollen in the moment he pulled away to breathe and whisper at him, and Jongdae was completely infatuated. “Wanna go to my room?”

“Sure,” Jongdae said, and he topped it off with a very unsexy yawn because he couldn’t help it. Yixing laughed at him and brought him into his bedroom by his hand, and once Jongdae saw the bed he yawned once more.

“Oh god, I’m tired,” Jongdae said. “I thought I slept a lot today but I guess I didn’t sleep enough.”

“Do you want to just go to sleep then?” Yixing rolled onto his bed in one swift movement and started to unbutton his shirt, and Jongdae gently dropped his backpack to the floor, shrugging out of his jacket and draping it over his backpack.

“Uhm...” Jongdae thought about it. He had been having a lot of sex this week. It would probably be a good idea to take a break from that and give his body some rest. “To be honest, yeah, if that’s okay.”

“That sounds perfect,” Yixing threw his shirt off and stretched his limbs out like a cat, and Jongdae smiled fondly as he watched him strip himself of his clothes. Jongdae set an alarm on his phone to wake himself up in the morning and then figured to take his clothes off as well, and once they were both down to their boxers Yixing pulled the covers back to invite Jongdae in. “Hit the lights, babe,” he told him, and Jongdae did so before hopping into bed.

Yixing latched onto him immediately and Jongdae laughed at the sudden touch. He felt more snug and cozy in Yixing’s bed than he had in a long time, and he fell asleep almost instantaneously when Yixing pulled him close to snuggle him.

When his alarm went off at 8 Jongdae felt more refreshed and awake than he thought he would, and he was totally enamored with the way having a boyfriend made him feel. Yixing grumbled in his ear and smacked his cheek against Jongdae’s shoulder. “Turn that shit off,” he groaned, and Jongdae laughed airily as he moved to shut the alarm off.

When the room was silent once more Jongdae allowed himself to relax in Yixing’s arms. He didn’t have to be back at school for another two hours so he didn’t feel rushed to go, and was glad for it. He bonked his head lightly against Yixing’s and Yixing sighed. “When do you have class?”

“At ten,” Jongdae told him.

“You wake up so early,” Yixing said, holding out the last syllable, and Jongdae laughed.

“Well it takes a little while to get back to school, and then I like to shower and get ready and whatever. I like having a lot of time to work with than to cut it close.”

“So prim and proper, such a model student,” Yixing teased, and Jongdae grunted at him.

“You’d be surprised.”

“I’m sure...” Yixing trailed off, sounding tired, and Jongdae sighed happily against the side of his face.

“I have a concern,” Jongdae said, his conversation with Junmyeon last night coming back to him now that he had let it sit for a while, and Yixing opened one eye to look at him.

“What’s that?”

“It’s about Junmyeon.”

“Fantastic,” Yixing said flatly.

“You sound so excited. No, it’s not bad, if you were thinking that. I just think I should set him up with someone.”

Yixing barked out a laugh. “Are you serious? Didn’t you do that once? And it turned out so well,” Yixing chirped, and Jongdae rolled his eyes.

“I want to try it again, and I’ll try my damn best to make it work. I owe it to him, I think. I just don’t really know that many single people.” He sighed. “I feel like most of the guys at the club at dating someone.”

“Mhm, I think you’re right.” Yixing yawned. “Do you have anyone in mind?”

“Not...really, no.”

“Has he shown interest in anyone recently?”

“Uhh...” Jongdae thought about it. He couldn’t really think of anyone Junmyeon had sought after in a while, other than himself, and maybe Hakyeon. But Hakyeon was unavailable and Jongdae certainly wouldn’t want to bother him with that, concerning his history with Junmyeon. He knew that wouldn’t work right from the start. “Honestly, no.”

“He’s being unhelpful.”

“Maybe I should ask him if he likes anyone right now.”

“That sounds like a good way to start.”

“But he’ll probably mention someone who’s already taken.”

“Then he’s shit outta luck,” Yixing said slowly, and Jongdae frowned.

“I don’t know. There’s gotta be someone.” He thought over all of the strippers backstage he could remember at the moment, and nobody stuck out to him. He closed his eyes and sighed, letting his mind wander, and then opened his eyes once more when he thought of Jaehwan. “Oh, I forgot the bar! Jaehwan’s single, isn’t he?”

“I...I think he is. I don’t really talk to Jaehwan about his love life.”

“Maybe I could get them into each other! Junmyeon’s talked about him before, actually, oh my god. He said--” Jongdae groaned. “Oh, I forgot that Junmyeon fucking punched Jaehwan’s best friend.”

Yixing cackled softly at the memory and Jongdae found the sound amusing. “That kind of ruins everything.”

“But Junmyeon told me that he and Kyungsoo made up. They’re cool with each other now. Maybe that’ll make things better. Shit. I should talk to Jaehwan.”

“Yeah, you should scope out how he feels about it,” Yixing said, sounding like he was drifting off to sleep, and Jongdae laughed at him.

“Sorry if I’m boring you.”

“No, no, you’re not, it’s just really fuckin’ early for me,” Yixing told him, and Jongdae nodded, sitting up in bed.

“I should go to school then, and let you sleep.” Jongdae pushed the covers on his side of the bed back but Yixing reached out and grabbed his wrist.

“No,” he said plainly, and Jongdae laughed at him, getting out of bed and moving to put his clothes on.

“I’m sorry, I have to go to school. I can come back here when I’m done with my classes, though,” he offered, and he watched Yixing lay in bed lifelessly for a moment.

“Alright,” Yixing agreed, and Jongdae smiled at him.

He put his clothes on and swung his backpack over his shoulders when he was ready to go. “I’ll see you later, then. I’ll text you this afternoon.”

“Okay, baby.” Yixing groaned and sat up, getting out of bed, and Jongdae frowned at him.

“You don’t have to walk me out.”

“I should lock the door after you leave, it’s fine,” Yixing smiled sleepily at him, and followed Jongdae out towards the door. When Jongdae was about to leave he spun around and kissed Yixing slowly, and Yixing kissed back with as much energy as he had. Jongdae pulled away after a short moment and smiled at him.

“I’m so happy. Like I don’t have any words to describe it.”

“I’m really happy too,” Yixing said, smiling with half-lidded eyes, and Jongdae grinned widely at him.

“I’ll see you later today,” he told him, and Yixing nodded.

“See you,” he said, and Jongdae left out the door. He was becoming very comfortable in Yixing’s apartment building and he liked it. He decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator since he was bursting with energy right now and had no other way to get rid of it. Shit he felt amazing. His life was amazing. He was going to write a song today.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is nowhere near the end of the fic so please don't unsubscribe or anything lol <3  
> thank you so much for reading!! it really means the world to me~~~


	19. (nsfw) jongdae accomplishes something and is moving away from clothes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY COMEBACK EVERYBODYYYYY

Jongdae went to Yixing’s apartment after he had finished his classes and had managed to kiss him only a few times before he passed out on the couch, exhausted from running around his campus all day. Yixing woke him up several hours later telling him they had to go to work, and Jongdae whined at him the entire cab ride to the club, annoyed that he had spent his time at his boyfriend’s house sleeping when he should’ve been getting laid. Yixing seemed amused by him, however, and Jongdae couldn’t be upset with him when Yixing wore a quiet smile that looked like it could explode into laughter at any moment.

When they got to work Yixing had to actually go and do the job he was paid to do and Jongdae was even more frustrated by it. Now that he and Yixing were finally dating he wanted to spend all of his time with him, and he hadn’t anticipated not being able to see him at work even though they worked together. He thought back to his life previously and how he didn’t see a lot of Yixing backstage in the first place, since he was usually out doing his job. Jongdae sighed and stared at himself in the mirror on Hakyeon’s vanity.

He shouldn’t just mope around the entire day. He’d probably get to go home tonight with Yixing and talk with him there. It really wasn’t as big of a deal as he was making it out to be. Besides, he had shit to do, he thought as he got up from his seat. He wanted to talk to Jaehwan, and he was pretty sure Jaehwan was working tonight.

He had tried rehearsing what he was going to say to get Jaehwan to agree to going out with Junmyeon, and was pretty sure that if he was charming enough he could get it done. He liked flirting for other people a lot more than flirting with himself, he considered as he made his way onto the floor and over to the bar. There was less chance of him getting hurt, and flirting was fun and harmless. It felt nice to help Junmyeon, since Jongdae figured Junmyeon didn’t really know what he was doing most of the time.

Jongdae plopped himself down on a barstool at the bar, and as soon as he saw Chanyeol making a drink he realized that he hadn’t actually told his friend that he was dating Yixing now. He hadn’t actually told _anyone_. That was crazy and he needed to fix that. He watched the back of Chanyeol’s head carefully in an attempt to make him turn around and notice him, and when Chanyeol seemed too entranced by the drink he was making Jongdae raised a hand to wave in his direction. “Chanyeol, Chanyeol, I wanna talk to you.”

Chanyeol immediately stopped working on his drink and looked around, standing up straight and glancing in both directions like a frightened meerkat. Jongdae laughed at him and Chanyeol smiled breathlessly at the sound. “Jongdae! Give me a second,” he said, and Jongdae was content to sit there and watch Chanyeol finish the drink he was making and hand it off to someone further down the bar. Chanyeol came over to where Jongdae was sitting and grinned at him.

“I know what you’re going to tell me,” Chanyeol started, and Jongdae scoffed.

“You do not.”

“You tried telling me last night.”

“That’s true. Can you read lips?”

“No, but I saw you leaving with Yixing. Wait, Jaehwan, come over here!” Chanyeol turned and gazed off in the direction Jaehwan was in, and Jongdae watched the other man bob his head from side to side a few times before turning around to look at them.

“What’s up?” Jaehwan asked, and Chanyeol motioned him over excitedly. Jaehwan blinked and went over to them, not bothering to put down the rag he had been drying glasses with. “What?”

“Jongdae, go,” Chanyeol urged him.

Jongdae laughed. “Why are we making an event of it?”

“Just tell us, come on.”

“Ahh, you guys are weird. Yixing and I are dating now,” Jongdae said proudly, and he enjoyed the huge grin spread across Chanyeol’s face, then blinked, a little taken aback when Jaehwan groaned loudly and closed his eyes.

“Goddamnit, Chanyeol,” Jaehwan said, his eyes still closed as he moved his free hand to the back pocket of his jeans to rummage around. Jongdae watched him, frowning a little bit at this adverse reaction to what he thought was pretty damn awesome news. Jaehwan pulled out his wallet and flipped it open, thumbing through it for a twenty dollar bill and pulling the bill out. He placed the bill in Chanyeol’s outstretched hand and Chanyeol clasped his fingers around it as soon as it was down.

“Thank you, ahh, I feel as if this is a victory for all of us,” Chanyeol said airily, and Jongdae barked out a laugh.

“Did you guys have a bet? What? What’s going on, why did Jaehwan give you money?” Jongdae asked, looking in between the two men nervously. Chanyeol eased a smile at him and it calmed him down.

“I told Jaehwan like-- like two weeks ago that you and Yixing would get together. He said you guys wouldn’t, because he’s a miserable little man.” Jaehwan shot Chanyeol a dissatisfied glare and pursed his lips, but said nothing, so Chanyeol continued. “And we put money on it. You just made me twenty bucks, Jongdae, thank you.”

“That’ll be forty, won’t it?” Jaehwan asked. “Since Kyungsoo got in on the action too, and he fucked up.”

“Did he?” Chanyeol blinked at Jaehwan, and Jaehwan nodded.

“Yeah, he said something goofy. I remember telling him that he was going to have to pay up eventually because it was so stupid.”

“Oh, you’re right!” Chanyeol clapped his hands in front of himself and laughed. “He said Jongdae was gonna fuck Junmyeon, didn’t he?”

“Yeah,” Jaehwan said with a little chuckle, and Jongdae laughed out loud, shaking his head.

“Kyungsoo doesn’t even know me!” Also Kyungsoo hadn’t really been wrong but Jongdae didn’t feel like bringing that up. That wasn’t anything his friends needed to know about. Jongdae was a little surprised by Kyungsoo’s foresight.

“Exactly! That’s why he spat bullshit and owes us forty dollars now!” Jaehwan exclaimed, sounding more excited than before, and Chanyeol laughed at him.

“I guess you didn’t really lose any money, then, if you’ll be getting it back from Kyungsoo’s wallet.”

“I still won, I won in my heart,” Jaehwan stated, and when he rested his gaze on Jongdae’s face with a shy smile Jongdae grinned back at him. “I’m happy for you, Jongdae,” he said quietly, and Jongdae’s grin grew wider.

“Awh, thank you. I’m really happy too.”

“I listened to Yixing talk about you for weeks,” Chanyeol said, his brow furrowed seriously, and Jongdae squawked at him.

“You did not.”

“Swear to god.”

“He’s not lying, I heard some of it, too,” Jaehwan nodded along with Chanyeol, and Jongdae let out a breathless laugh.

“One of you guys should’ve told me! I didn’t know if Yixing liked me or not for like way too long, that’s why I never said anything to him! I could’ve started dating him a while ago, then! Damnit.”

“I listened to both of you guys talking about each other, to be honest! I had so much inside information, I could’ve done something!” Chanyeol sighed. “But instead I wanted to let you guys figure it out yourselves. Took longer than necessary but it worked out in the end. I’m glad I didn’t do anything.”

“If you had done something it might’ve scared Yixing off,” Jaehwan said, and Jongdae laughed at it.

“I don’t think you would’ve scared him. I think he just would’ve wanted to do it himself.”

“Then I’m glad I kept my mouth shut,” Chanyeol nodded happily, and Jongdae smiled back at him. He watched Jaehwan standing there awkwardly for a few moments, looking him up and down and taking in his melancholy eyes. Jaehwan didn’t seem to be in the best mood tonight but Jongdae was going to try to talk to him anyway, since he wanted to figure out the Junmyeon situation as quickly as he could.

“Jaehwan, I wanted to talk to you too, actually,” Jongdae said, and almost as soon as it left his lips Chanyeol moved away to go over to the soda machine. Jongdae followed him with his eyes but looked back to Jaehwan when he responded.

“Shoot,” Jaehwan said.

“Are you single?” Jongdae had no clue how to ease into the topic so he decided to just dive right in. If Jaehwan wasn’t comfortable with it then Jongdae assumed he’d be able to tell and he would stop. Jaehwan narrowed his eyes at Jongdae for a moment, and looked away before looking back at him, unable to shake away the quizzical expression on his face.

“Why are you asking me that?”

“Becaaaause,” Jongdae sang, drumming his fingers on the counter, “I know someone who likes you.” He was pretty sure this wasn’t a lie, when he had been out shopping with Junmyeon, Junmyeon mentioned liking Jaehwan. That was kind of a while back but Jongdae was pretty sure Junmyeon’s crush wouldn’t have faded, he didn’t seem the type to just drop guys immediately.

Jaehwan blinked at him. “Who?”

Jongdae grinned. “I wanna know if you’re single first, sorry.”

Jaehwan raised his eyebrows. “I am.”

“That’s awesome! Do you want a boyfriend right now?” Jongdae asked Jaehwan, and Chanyeol returned to them holding a glass of dark brown liquid. He placed it in front of Jongdae with a smile, and Jongdae looked at it. “What’s this?” He grinned up at Chanyeol. “Is this for me?”

“It’s just Coke, don’t be too excited. Yeah, have some,” Chanyeol told him, and he walked away to help someone at the bar after Jongdae thanked him.

Jaehwan was still standing there staring at him, and when Jongdae turned his attention back on him, Jaehwan closed his mouth, looking surprised at himself that he had been standing with it agape in the first place. “Ah, uhm. Do I want a boyfriend?” He paused. “Depends, I guess.”

“Well, he’s your age, I think.” Jongdae blinked at Jaehwan, trying to study his face, and then lifted a hand to wave at him. “Ahh, okay, maybe boyfriend is pushing it. I shouldn’t advertise it like that. But a date might be nice.”

This change in words seemed to calm Jaehwan a bit, and he nodded, moving to lean against the counter and put his hands down so he could flex his fingers on the countertop. “Yeah, no boyfriend. But I could date, yeah.”

Jongdae smiled, feeling as if he had accomplished something already. He took a sip from the drink Chanyeol had brought him and nodded. “I’d really like that, and so would he.”

“Who is he?” Jaehwan asked, lifting his eyes to look clearly at Jongdae, and Jongdae cleared his throat.

“Juuuuunmyeon. Is that okay?”

“Ah.” This wasn’t really the response Jongdae had been looking forward to, but Jaehwan tried to rectify it. “Yeah, I could do that.”

Jongdae felt his eyes get a bit wider just from Jaehwan’s answer. His initial response to the name hadn’t seemed very favorable but apparently Jaehwan was just being iffy tonight. “Really? Oh my god. Yes! Thank you!”

“I’ll go out with him, yeah,” Jaehwan mumbled to himself, looking at Jongdae for a second and then looking out beyond him.

“Cool! I’ll tell him! He’ll be so happy.”

“Really?” A slow smile grew on Jaehwan’s face, and Jongdae thought it endearing. Jaehwan looked like he was trying to be nonchalant but was more interested than he wanted to give off.

“Yeah! He’s liked you for a while, I think,” Jongdae said, not sure if he should be spilling this information or not. Oh well, it was out in the air. He didn’t think it would do any harm.

“What?” Jaehwan looked at him incredulously. “No he hasn’t.”

Jongdae laughed playfully. “What makes you say that with such conviction?”

“He dated Jongin,” Jaehwan said, lifting his hand and motioning it at Jongdae. “And he liked you after that.”

Jongdae raised an eyebrow. “Ahh, he told me that he liked you before he liked me. Back before he was interested in me, I think. He mentioned liking you.” Jongdae laughed a little. “I think he tends to like everyone.”

“Mm, okay.” Jaehwan didn’t look entirely enthused but Jongdae wasn’t going to let it get to him. He had gotten the response he had wanted and he was happy, now he just had to tell Junmyeon.

“Thank you, Jaehwan, I think he’ll be really happy.” Jongdae grinned at him and Jaehwan nodded stiffly.

“Cool. No problem.” Jaehwan had his lips pursed tight like he was about to spit, and before Jongdae could ask him if he was okay, he heard his voice being called.

“Jongdae, Jongdae,” Minseok came rushing over to him from beyond the bar, and when he came up to him Jongdae noticed the panic in his eyes. “Jongdae.”

“What, what’s wrong?” Jongdae frowned.

“Someone threw up in the urinal in the bathroom,” Minseok said, biting his lip apologetically, and Jongdae groaned out loud, glancing up just in time to catch a little smirk on Jaehwan’s face.

“That’s the worst sentence I’ve ever heard,” Jongdae whined. “That’s gotta be it. The absolute worst thing anyone’s ever told me.”

“I’m sorry,” Minseok said with a little laugh. “I figured you wouldn’t want to hear that. But I didn’t know what else to do.”

“No, you came to the right guy, I guess. I...I don’t know how to begin to clean that.” Jongdae got off of the bar stool and sighed, looking wistfully at the glass of soda Chanyeol had poured for him. It would have to wait, since duty called. He went backstage to collect any kind of cleaning product he thought would help, and marched off to the bathroom.

Once the mess was cleaned up and Jongdae didn’t feel nauseous anymore, he went backstage to try to relax and decompress. That had been really gross and he hoped he didn’t have to clean much else tonight. Every now and then his job liked to remind him how terrible it could be, but for now it didn’t look like he had much to do, so he pulled his laptop out of his backpack and set it up on Hakyeon’s desk, eager to find something to distract himself with.

After Jongdae had made some progress in his Jazz History reading Tao came backstage and immediately slapped his hands down on Jongdae’s shoulders from behind, gripping them and shaking them a little bit. Jongdae was shocked at the sudden touch and almost jumped out of his seat. “Ahh, Tao!”

“You’re dating Yixing!” Tao announced, and Jongdae snorted a laugh.

“Yeah, I am! How’d you find out?”

“Jongin told me,” Tao said, moving to plop down in his own chair next to Jongdae’s. Jongdae blinked at him and then remembered that Jongin must’ve seen Yixing kiss Jongdae last night, because Jongdae hadn’t told him anything yet. “And Yixing’s in the best fucking mood ever so it must be true. Congrats, you should’ve told me.”

“I haven’t seen you tonight, I didn’t have a chance to. But I would’ve,” Jongdae told him.

“You should’ve texted me as soon as you guys got together.”

“I don’t have your number.”

Tao wordlessly presented his phone to Jongdae and Jongdae stared at it for a moment before realizing Jongdae wanted him to take it. He picked it up and added a new contact for himself, and when he handed the phone back to Tao, Tao immediately got to texting Jongdae so he would have his number. “I didn’t think it was possible for Yixing to date someone. I’ve known him for like four years and he’s never been with anyone.”

“Really?” Jongdae laughed. “That’s funny. That’s a long time.”

“Yeah, it is. I dunno if he keeps that shit on the downlow or not. But I’ve never heard him talk about anyone.” Tao shrugged. “You’re special.”

“Ah, well, thank you,” Jongdae said with a smile, feeling pretty special indeed. He couldn’t help but feel accomplished, since he was a college kid who had gotten himself a hot older boyfriend. A lot of the time it felt too good to be true.

Jongdae’s phone buzzed when it got a text from Tao, and right as Jongdae was opening the message his phone buzzed again to tell him he had another message. That was funny. He went to his message list and saw it was from Junmyeon.

_“JONGHYUN”_

Jongdae didn’t know what this text meant at all, so he stared at it for a short moment, only stopping when he saw Junmyeon had sent a follow-up text immediately after.

_“SORRY WRONG JONG NAME”_

Jongdae laughed out loud at that. This seemed urgent but Jongdae was not the guy Junmyeon was looking for. He smirked to himself as he started to text Junmyeon back, since he had made progress with Junmyeon’s love life today.

_“That made me laugh. I have something I want to run by you btw.”_

Innocent enough. Jongdae put his phone down and glanced over to Tao, seeing that he had already put his headphones in and was absorbed with something on his phone. Tao was very good at keeping himself amused and Jongdae liked that. He turned back to his laptop to get back to his homework but was distracted when he saw that Junmyeon replied faster than he thought he would.

_“What’s that?”_

_“Do you still like Jaehwan?”_

Jongdae wondered if he was crossing boundaries but he also didn’t really care at the moment. He was excited to make Junmyeon’s day, and really hoped that Junmyeon was still into Jaehwan. If he wasn’t then Jongdae would have to have an awkward talk with Jaehwan later.

_“Uhhhhh I guess so! He’s really hot and we’re pretty good friends. I guess I’ve liked him for a while.”_

Fucking good. That made everything so much easier for Jongdae.

_“Okay awesome. I talked to him today and he said he’d go out with you.”_

That was hardly a lie...Jaehwan had said he was interested in going on a date with Junmyeon. Maybe he wasn’t as enthusiastic as Jongdae was implying but Junmyeon didn’t need to know that.

Jongdae got a response almost immediately that made him snort loudly.

_“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”_

Jongdae waited because he figured this was not the only message Junmyeon was going to send him, and he was right, because he got another text shortly after.

_“Are you serious?! That’s so awesome! You didn’t have to do that Jongdae! Did he say when we’re going out? I should talk to him shouldn’t I?”_

Junmyeon seemed so excited that Jongdae felt proud of himself. Yes, he had done this. Maybe he was getting the hang of this match-making thing.

_“I left the rest up to you guys. Yeah you should talk to him and figure out when you guys want to hang out. Good luck. :)”_

“Good luck” wasn’t sketchy, right? Jongdae just wanted Junmyeon to actually have a good time this time. Maybe Junmyeon needed some luck on his side when dealing with guys, since he seemed to be pretty damn unlucky thus far. Junmyeon sent Jongdae a couple more thank you texts and Jongdae took them all in with a huge grin on his face.

This was awesome. Everyone was getting laid now. Jongdae really hoped that Junmyeon and Jaehwan would work out, but he’d have to wait and see. He sighed before returning to his Jazz History homework, which he found difficult to get through because his mind kept wandering off to daydream about his boyfriend. He wondered what Yixing was doing right now and if he was having fun doing it. Jongdae thought that being a stripper was probably pretty fun, since he always heard a lot of laughing happening backstage.

Jongdae wondered if his boyfriend was dancing on someone else right now and laughed at the thought. Of course, that was a given. That’s what Yixing did for a living and Jongdae was amused to find that he had no problem with it at all. Maybe because he had known Yixing as a stripper from the start. He was entirely sure that Yixing wouldn’t mess around though, Yixing seemed way too into him to do that. Jongdae was glad he had no reason to be worried, and looked forward to the next time Yixing came backstage so he could pull him into his dressing room and kiss him. He needed to take a break every now and then.

* * *

 

Jongdae spent most of the following week on Yixing’s couch eating what Yixing cooked for him and riding Yixing’s dick, and he couldn’t believe how incredible his life had gotten in just a couple of days. His boyfriend called him pet names, was a great cook, and walked around naked like it was no big deal, and Jongdae was in love with everything. They were in the middle of an episode of Friends that they weren’t really watching, instead having it play as background noise as they made out on the couch, when Yixing got up and went off to the kitchen, saying he was going to get something to drink. Jongdae followed him with his eyes for a moment and when he disappeared Jongdae sighed happily, leaning back against the couch.

He was in nothing but his boxer briefs, since he didn’t like how he felt when Yixing was sitting there nearly naked but Jongdae was fully clothed. He wasn’t entirely used to lounging around with no clothes on but he was getting used to it, and Yixing seemed to like it a lot, so Jongdae was willing to keep doing it to drive him crazy.

Yixing came back from the kitchen with a bottle of water in his hand and Jongdae stared at him as he walked over. Even though they had been having sex all week Jongdae still couldn’t believe how fucking hot Yixing was. His abs were perfect and Jongdae wanted to bury his face in them and wail.

“Yixing,” Jongdae said, getting his attention before he sat back down on the couch, and Yixing smiled at him.

“Jongdae.”

“....can you move your arms for me?” Jongdae asked awkwardly, trying to keep himself from ogling Yixing for too long. Yixing snorted a laugh.

“What does that mean?” He flapped his arms up and down as if he was trying to imitate a bird, and Jongdae barked a laugh.

“Not like that!”

“Then how? You’ve gotta give me better directions than that!”

“Like...like you’re trying to show them off to me! It’s not that hard!” Jongdae could feel himself going red and got even redder when he saw the smarmy grin spread on Yixing’s face, but was grateful when Yixing didn’t make fun of him, just gave him what he wanted. He flexed his arms up and down shortly and Jongdae felt a little weak just looking at him.

“Oh, fuck you,” Jongdae whined, overwhelmed by his boyfriend’s perfect body, and Yixing threw his head back as he cackled.

“I’d ask you to do the same but I don’t want to make you upset,” Yixing said as he plopped down next to Jongdae on the couch.

“Ahh, shut up!” Jongdae lifted one arm to show Yixing the muscle that was there. “I’m not weak! I’m not weak at all! My arms just look kinda noodley but when I flex them like this you can see I’m not little.”

“Mmm,” Yixing hummed, a soft smile on his face as he watched Jongdae flex his arm to prove a point. Jongdae laughed out loud at himself and put his arm down after a moment, and then Yixing leaned in to kiss him.

Jongdae adored how he wasn’t even the least bit tired of feeling Yixing’s lips on his own. “I can go again,” he said excitedly, after a few long kisses. They had fucked in Yixing’s bedroom about an hour ago but Jongdae was raring to go again after looking Yixing up and down.  Yixing laughed and jumped up from the couch, apparently just as excited as Jongdae was.

“Okay, cool, let me go get a condom.”

“Mmm,” Jongdae made a sound, watching Yixing get up and go towards his bedroom. “When can we stop using condoms?” Jongdae asked, cocking his head to the side, and Yixing stopped where he was and turned around to grin at him.

“You’re a kinky little shit, aren’t you?”

Jongdae yelped at him. “Hey, come on! I’m just curious! A-and like, we’re wasting money at this point, aren’t we? Condoms are expensive! It’s like six dollars for a box of three!”

“Oh my god,” Yixing laughed as he went into his bedroom, and Jongdae leaned his head against the couch as he waited for Yixing to return. Yixing came back with a string of condoms and he put them down on the coffee table after ripping one off.

“I don’t mind using them, really,” Jongdae said, trying to clear his name, and he smiled a little at how Yixing’s dimple showed when he grinned.

“Aah, I know. We can stop using them eventually. I just want to make sure we’re both clean first.”

Jongdae scoffed. “I’m like, pretty damn sure I don’t have anything. I always use protection.”

“And that’s good. Good for you,” Yixing said, lifting a hand to knock on Jongdae’s head. “You’re smart. But shit happens and you have to be careful. When’s the last time you got tested?”

Jongdae blinked. Now that he thought about it, he had never bothered to be tested for diseases in his life, since he always used protection. “Uhh. Never, I’ve never done that.”

Yixing didn’t say anything and Jongdae didn’t know what to make of it. “Well I haven’t been tested in a couple months but I’ll get that shit done so we can fuck the way we want.”

“Alright.” Jongdae sighed a little. “I feel healthy. Like, I feel fine.”

Yixing laughed. “Yeah, I know you do, babe. I just want to be careful with you.” He leaned over to take Jongdae in a kiss and Jongdae responded immediately, reaching over to take Yixing’s cock in his hand and jerk it up and down. He felt Yixing get hard in his hand almost instantaneously and felt hot as hell because of it. Yixing was the stripper but dating him made Jongdae feel really sexy himself, since Yixing was so turned on by him all the time. Maybe Jongdae had something there he didn’t know about.

Jongdae pulled Yixing erect quickly and whined when Yixing pulled away from him to reach for the tube of lubricant he had left on the coffee table, then chuckled under his breath at how they seemed to have lube on the ready in every room of the apartment now. Yixing really knew what he was doing.

Yixing poured some lube out onto his fingers and beckoned Jongdae closer with his other hand. “C’mere, babe,” he said, patting his thighs, and Jongdae quickly scrambled out of his boxers and threw them aside, moving to get into Yixing’s lap. He sat up a bit so Yixing could get his fingers inside of him, and he moaned breathlessly when he felt Yixing’s finger pushing inside of him. He kissed Yixing slowly and moved his head to the side slightly when Yixing started to kiss him back, his finger prodding slowly until Jongdae felt open enough to add another.

Jongdae whimpered a little when Yixing eased a second finger inside of him, and smiled as Yixing kissed gently up the side of his cheek and towards his mouth. Jongdae was content to make out with Yixing for the rest of the day, the fingers just barely brushing against his prostate were just an added bonus. When Yixing started to fuck him with his fingers harder Jongdae shivered and moved his hips up more. “Here, just...you’re good, right?”

Yixing chuckled and reached for the condom he had picked out with his free hand, then handed it to Jongdae. “Can you open this for me?”

“Yeah,” Jongdae said, immediately getting to work on it. He got the condom out and moved to roll it down on Yixing’s dick with his hand, and took pleasure from the soft hiss Yixing let out at the touch. Jongdae looked up at him and smirked. “Are you ready?”

“Always ready,” Yixing said confidently, putting his hands on Jongdae’s hips as Jongdae steadied himself above Yixing’s cock. He started to push himself down and let out a long moan when he felt Yixing’s cock inside of him. He looked down to see Yixing with his eyes closed, grinning like an asshole, and he laughed a little at how cute he found the expression. Wow he was pretty far gone. He was so into this guy he thought he was going crazy.

Yixing started to thrust his hips up after Jongdae had sat down and pulled up a few times, and Jongdae whimpered at the sudden movement, putting his hands on Yixing’s shoulders to steady himself. Yixing moved his lips to Jongdae’s neck to kiss gently there and whenever he grazed his teeth against the skin Jongdae felt himself shudder. He wanted Yixing to bite him but Yixing seemed like he had other plans, instead wanting to tease him with his teeth and then lick playfully. Jongdae thought it was infuriating and hot all at once.

Yixing’s grip on Jongdae’s hips tightened after a while and he started to thrust up harder, so Jongdae began riding back on him more energetically, which made Yixing let out a strangled groan. Jongdae was proud of the sound and kept riding him, trying to get him to moan more, and when Yixing grunted softly after each thrust Jongdae felt like a dick-riding hero. He was getting a lot better at this and he was feeling awesome because of it.

Yixing was a good coach, he thought, as he let out a loud yelp when Yixing started to fuck him harder. Jongdae leaned closer to him, wrapping his arms around Yixing’s head and holding him close, and when he felt his cock start to rub up against Yixing’s abs he thought he was going to have a heart attack. Holy shit too much stimulation, he whimpered, sitting back and stopping his movement. He felt his head bobbing around like it was going to topple off but he didn’t know how to stop it, since he was so focused on not cumming right then and there.

Jongdae let out another moan when Yixing’s cock prodded against his prostate, and felt his legs go weak as Yixing kept rubbing against the spot. “Oh god,” he crooned, rocking his hips against Yixing and making him groan. Jongdae watched Yixing lick his lips and then attacked at the sight, leaning in to take Yixing into a long, desperate kiss. Yixing mumbled something against his lips but Jongdae didn’t catch it, too distracted by his heart pounding in his chest and the tingling sensation running up his legs.

Jongdae’s phone started to go off, telling him he had a phone call, and Jongdae exclaimed angrily, trying to ignore it. Yixing chuckled at the sound but kept fucking Jongdae, and Jongdae grimaced. His ringtone was a Hellogoodbye song that was not sexy in any way and he wanted it off, so he reached toward his phone on the couch and picked it up to shut it off. Once it stopped making noise he dropped it down and returned to riding Yixing’s cock, feeling more energized than before. He started to go faster and Yixing let out a shaky moan, sitting back on the couch and relaxing for a moment.

Jongdae watched the way Yixing’s mouth dropped open as he rode his cock and smirked. Yixing’s hand wandered from Jongdae’s hip to grip onto his ass and Jongdae was more than willing to allow the touch, moving his hips around to make Yixing’s cock prod into him at different angles. He shivered at the way it felt and felt himself go weak again, and Yixing picked up on it quickly, starting to thrust his hips up again.

“Ahhh, god,” Jongdae moaned, his voice shaky, and Yixing grinned at the sound, moving his hips faster. Jongdae let out a long, low sound as Yixing found his prostate and fucked hard against it. “Fuck me, oh my god,” he shuddered, and looked down to see Yixing studying his face, licking his lips after a moment.

“You feel so fucking good,” Yixing said, slapping Jongdae’s ass with one hand and making him scream. Jongdae laughed at the sound he made and Yixing moved his hands away from Jongdae’s body, thrusting his hips up hard and making him writhe on top of him. Jongdae shivered and Yixing reached up to tweak both of Jongdae’s nipples in his hands, and Jongdae yelped at his touch.

“Ahh, oh my god!” Jongdae felt himself get red hot at the stimulation and had to stop moving, letting out a long groan when Yixing kept fucking him. He felt heat rise from the base of his cock and shoot out through the tip, and Jongdae lifted his hand to jerk his cock as he came on Yixing’s abs. He moaned helplessly at the sight and felt himself go limp, almost falling off of Yixing if Yixing hadn’t gripped him with both hands. Jongdae looked down at him and couldn’t help but smile at the grin on Yixing’s face.

“I’m on fire,” Jongdae told him, closing his eyes and shuddering as Yixing kept thrusting into him. He felt sensitive and raw and every thrust sent tingles up and down his body. Yixing put his hands on Jongdae’s hips and brought him down into his lap hard, fucking him roughly and making him yelp. Yixing moaned, stifling the sound in Jongdae’s neck, and Jongdae felt him cumming when he started mumbling heated curse words into his skin. Jongdae laughed a little as Yixing slowed, and eventually when Yixing came to a stop Jongdae made a long, whining sound. “Ahhhh, fuck! Feels so goddamn good, Yixing!” He exclaimed, making Yixing laugh as he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

Jongdae pulled off of Yixing’s lap and flopped down on the couch like a caught fish, and Yixing watched him with low, amused eyes for a moment before following him down to the couch and taking him into a kiss. Jongdae made a sound at the sudden movement and kissed him back, responding eagerly for a while until he had to pull away. “Fuck, I can’t breathe,” he whispered, and Yixing laughed.

“Ahh, you’re so damn cute,” Yixing said airily, and Jongdae lifted a very weak hand to swat at him.

“Mhm. I know, since you tell me all the time. I’m gonna get cocky.”

“You’ve always been cocky...” Yixing said, putting his hands on Jongdae’s knees and rubbing the skin up and down. “I like that.”

Jongdae let out a laugh and sat up a bit. “Good. I’m glad you do. Ahh, fuck, I’m done for a while, is that okay?” Jongdae whimpered. “I can’t do any more.”

“That’s fine, baby,” Yixing said, getting up from the couch to throw the condom out. Jongdae watched him, then turned his attention to the television and realized they had fucked through an episode of Friends. That was kind of funny. He turned the volume up a bit so they could go back to where they had been before, and then picked up his phone to see who had called him.

He had a missed call from Junmyeon, and for some reason he couldn’t bring himself to care. He was having a great day lazing around in his boyfriend’s apartment and he wasn’t really interested in changing anything. He decided not to call Junmyeon back and put his phone down, standing up from the couch. “I’m gonna clean myself off,” he told Yixing, and when Yixing grunted an okay at him he went into the bedroom to get to the bathroom. He washed himself of all the stickiness and then went back into the living room, grabbing his boxers from the couch and slipping them back on before plopping down on the couch next to Yixing.

“We missed an episode,” Jongdae told him.

“I guess we’ll never know what happened,” Yixing said sadly.

Jongdae laughed at how damn crestfallen Yixing was able to make himself sound when it was obvious he didn’t actually care. “I’m fine with that, I don’t mind.”

“Mm, me neither.” Yixing bonked his head against Jongdae’s, then sat up to get his bottle of water. He took a long sip from it and then offered it to Jongdae silently, so Jongdae took it and drank from it. When he handed it back to Yixing, Yixing put it down on the table and rummaged around.

Jongdae found Yixing trying to find something on the table much more amusing than the television, and when Yixing finally picked up a rolled joint Jongdae snorted. The side of Yixing’s mouth lifted in a familiar smile as he put the cigarette into his mouth. “Want it?” he asked, picking up a lighter, and Jongdae shook his head.

“No thanks.”

“But I can smoke, is that okay?”

“Of course, I don’t mind.”

“Ahh, you’re sweet,” Yixing said, moving to light his joint. He took a long drag from it and exhaled thick white smoke after a moment, and Jongdae watched him curiously.

“How long have you been smoking for?” He asked.

Yixing’s brow furrowed as he considered this question. “I think...at least eleven years. I definitely smoked in high school.”

“Wow,” Jongdae said. Not only was that impressive but it made Jongdae think back that eleven years ago Yixing was in high school. What the fuck. “That’s why you’re so good at it, you don’t ever cough.”

Yixing chuckled at that. “Ahh, I cough sometimes, you can’t help that.”

“I think I would cough like a _bitch_ ,” Jongdae said, and Yixing laughed.

“I mean, probably, but you’ve never smoked anything before. That shit’s rough at first.”

“I can imagine.” Jongdae looked down when his phone went off again, and sighed when he saw Junmyeon was calling him once more. “Ahh, Junmyeon’s trying to get a hold of me. Can I answer this?”

“‘Course,” Yixing said, watching him, and Jongdae swiped his phone to answer the call. He hesitated, and then put it on speaker, figuring why the hell not.

“Hi, Junmyeon, what’s up?” Jongdae asked, and there was a little pause before Junmyeon responded.

“Ahh, Jongdae! I’m glad it’s you, I called the wrong Kim Jong at first.”

Jongdae snorted a laugh. “How many of us do you know?”

“My friend’s Kim Jonghyun and I call him all the time, so I’m just used to hitting his number.”

Jongdae paused. “My last name is first in your phone?”

“Of course it is! That’s the way it’s supposed to be, isn’t it?”

Jongdae thought about it, and concluded that Junmyeon had been raised a lot more Korean than he had been. “I guess you’re right.”

“That makes sense if your phone is in Korean, I guess,” Yixing added, and Junmyeon made an excited sound at his voice.

“Ahh, Yixing! Hi Yixing! You’re Zhang first in my phone, too.”

Yixing made a face like he was trying to figure out where Junmyeon even learned his last name, and Jongdae stifled a laugh at it. “That’s funny, that’s good. I think my name sounds the best with my family name first, too,” Yixing told him.

“What’s my name in your phone? Is it all wonky and American?” Junmyeon asked, and Yixing paused.

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

“Well I don’t have your number.”

“Huh, really? But we texted a lot last week, though.”

Jongdae thought back to the group chat the three of them had that hadn’t been updated since they all slept together. Yixing looked a tiny bit confused, and glanced in between the phone and Jongdae before finally speaking up. “...your number is just your number then, I didn't save it.”

Jongdae fought back more laughter as a smarmy grin grew across Yixing’s face. “Oh,” Junmyeon said quietly, and Yixing almost choked on his laughter. Jongdae swatted at him, thankful that he hadn’t laughed too hard.

“Junmyeon, what’d you call me for?” Jongdae asked, turning off the speakerphone before rising to his feet and walking around Yixing. He turned to look at him and put his hand over the phone. “I just wanna talk to him, I’m sorry,”

“No problem, go talk to him,” Yixing said, his grin not fading, and Jongdae smiled at the expression before going into Yixing’s bedroom.

He blinked when he realized Junmyeon had been talking to him the entire time, and stuttered. “Ahh, I’m sorry Junmyeon, I was talking to Yixing for a second. What did you say?”

“I have a date!” Junmyeon said excitedly, and Jongdae made a happy sound.

“Ahh, really?! With Jaehwan, right? If you say someone else I’ll be mad, I worked so damn hard for you,” he lied.

Junmyeon laughed. “Yeah, with Jaehwan. This weekend. Two days, actually.”

“That’s awesome, Junmyeon! I’m really glad it’s worked out.”

“Yeah, me too! I’ve hung out with Jaehwan a lot of times before but it’ll be cool to actually...like...I don’t know, be going in a direction with him. Yeah. I-I think I’m more excited than he is but that might just be because I can’t read him for shit.”

Jongdae laughed at that. “Jaehwan’s kinda tricky, yeah. But I think he likes you! He’s going out with you, man!”

“Ahh...yeah, that’s true,” Junmyeon said, and Jongdae liked how he could hear the smile in his voice. “That’s true. I just wanted to tell you how thankful I was to you.”

“Awwh, Junmyeon, that’s really nice. It’s no problem, I like trying to set you up with people,” Jongdae laughed.

“I like it too, to be honest! I’m no good at it but you are so it works out!” Junmyeon exhaled happily. “That’s all I really wanted to say, I guess. I’ll let you get back to your boyfriend.”

“Okay, thanks for calling, Junmyeon. You’re really sweet.”

“Ahh, Jongdae,” Junmyeon said, sounding bashful, and Jongdae smirked at it. “I’ll see you around sometimes.”  
  
“Yeah, I’ll see you! Come to the club soon! And after your date you have to tell me about it.”  
  
“Of course, I will! See you.”

“Bye,” Jongdae said, and he shut off the call. He stood there looking at his phone for a moment, and then fist-pumped in the air. Fuck yes he had set up another date. Hopefully it wouldn’t end up like what happened with Jongin.

He went out into the living room and was about to announce his accomplishment to Yixing when he got a text. He looked at his phone and saw it was from Junmyeon, and frowned at it.

 _“I don’t think Yixing likes me, did I do something?”_ was all it said, and Jongdae furrowed his brow. Well fuck. He didn’t really know how to respond to that.

Apparently his confusion played out on his face because Yixing called to him. “Hey, everything alright?”

Jongdae blinked the shock from his eyes and nodded. “Yeah, everything’s fine! It’s great! Junmyeon has a date with Jaehwan soon, which is aaaaall me, by the way, I totally did that. I’m getting good at this thing, maybe I should open a business.”

Yixing laughed at him as Jongdae typed out a response to Junmyeon. “Are match-makers even a thing anymore? I think that when people are looking for a relationship they like, make an online dating profile or something. We have computers now, Jongdae. Your services are obsolete.”

Jongdae grinned at him as he looked over the text he drafted to Junmyeon. _“You didn’t do anything, he just thinks you’re trying to sleep with me. Don’t worry about him.”_ Jongdae didn’t even know if that was true since he and Yixing had never actually discussed it, but it was his best guess. Yixing did seem kind of possessive of him, which Jongdae didn’t mind at all. He sent the text and smiled at Yixing. “I’m good at setting people up in real life.”

“You should try to match strippers with patrons. Like try to find the best combinations of people, and give all the creepers to Tao or someone, for shits and giggles.”

Jongdae scoffed but the sound turned into a laugh. “I’d only do that because I think Tao can hold his own.”

His phone went off and he checked to see what Junmyeon had told him. _“I’m not.”_ It was a simple message but he got his point across, and Jongdae was glad for it. He hadn’t gotten any vibes from Junmyeon like he was trying to steal Jongdae away for himself in the first place, but it was good to hear.

 _“I know, I’ll talk to him! :)”_ Jongdae didn’t feel like having that conversation right now so he put his phone down and watched Yixing take another drag from his joint. It was looking considerably smaller than the last time Jongdae had seen it, and Jongdae grinned.

“Fuck,” Yixing said suddenly, exhaling a puff of smoke, and then he started to cough. Jongdae frowned and reached for the bottle of water, handing it to him, and Yixing smiled for a second before coughing again. “Thank you,” he said, taking it from him, and he coughed a few more times before calming and taking a sip of water.

“Are you okay?” Jongdae asked him.

Yixing swallowed and nodded. “Yeah, of course, I’m fine. That happens.”

“I’ll get used to the wonderful sound of you coughing,” Jongdae said with a smile, leaning back on the couch, and Yixing smiled at him.

“What time is it?” He asked.

Jongdae checked his phone. “It’s almost six.”

“Ahh, we’ve got some time before we have to go to work.” Yixing cleared his throat and stood up. “You want something to eat? I can make you something. I kinda want to eat.”

“I could eat something, yeah,” Jongdae told him, and Yixing nodded and started to go off to the kitchen.

“Whatcha want?”

“Surprise me,” Jongdae told him, and Yixing laughed.

“I’m really gonna surprise you then! You can’t say that to me, Jongdae, I’ll take you seriously,” Yixing said as he disappeared into the other room. Jongdae just grinned in his direction and grabbed the television remote, flopping down on the couch to lay down. He felt tired and warm, like he could take a nap right there, and thought maybe he should do that. He felt at home enough. He closed his eyes and smiled up at the ceiling, feeling like a very satisfied and spoiled house cat. He had set his friend up and he felt at home in his hot boyfriend's apartment. Perfect. He hadn’t had much reason to complain before but now he was completely in love with his life.

 

 


	20. jongdae needs a new hobby because this matchmaking thing isn't working

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i can't believe this has 20 chapters *A* thank you so much for reading/giving kudos/all the lovely things you do! it really means the world to me!

Jongdae was beginning to become frustrated because he had been dating Yixing for two weeks now but he hadn’t been able to write anything at all. Whenever he sat down in front of the keyboard in his dorm room his mind felt blank and restless, and all the time he shared with Yixing was spent either having sex or waiting for the next time they could have sex. Jongdae loved his life but he missed the way writing chords in a Finale file felt, and he always got antsy when he felt like he wasn’t working hard enough.

He was sitting at Hakyeon’s vanity on a Wednesday night, staring ahead at the mirror and trying to devise a hook or bridge or melody or _something_ for a song, but nothing was coming. Absolutely nothing. He felt empty and helpless  even though he knew damn well he wasn’t working towards a deadline or anything. He rarely even let other people listen to his music, he knew he was just writing for himself right now, but that still didn’t shake the feeling that he was letting himself down. In order to get better at composing he needed to actually compose and that wasn’t happening.

He sighed softly and hummed something under his breath that, the more he developed, sounded more and more like a song from a Franz Ferdinand album he listened to last night. Goddamnit. Maybe it just wasn’t going to work tonight. He probably shouldn’t be so desperate about it, a lot of his songs came to him out of the air and he was able to shape them into something.

He needed to calm down and let himself relax. He was in love with his life right now and he needed to enjoy it, he told himself, because if he was happy then maybe writing would come easier. He just needed to relax.

It was difficult when Yixing had the night off, Jongdae had found. The club felt quieter and smaller even though it was just as busy as any other night, and Jongdae felt himself aching for two in the morning to come sooner so he could leave and maybe visit Yixing’s apartment. He thought this was cute for a second, and then came to consider it a problem. If he based his own happiness off of someone else’s presence then he was going to be disappointed sooner or later.

Apparently Jongdae had been giving himself one hell of a judgemental stare in the mirror because Kris’ voice shocked him so hard out of his trance he jumped. “Jongdae, are you okay?” his boss asked, and when Jongdae realized Kris was talking to him he turned to look at him with worried eyes.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Jongdae said briskly, and Kris frowned, moving to sit down in Tao’s empty chair that was near Jongdae’s seat.

“You look upset.”

“I-- I do not,” Jongdae said, and then forced a laugh to bring a smile to his face and show Kris just how not upset he was. “I’m just thinking. That’s my thinking face.”

“Then what are you thinking about to make you look so damn distraught?” Kris asked, and Jongdae’s eyes dropped to watch Kris’ hands fumbling over each other in his lap. When he glanced up to look Kris in the face Kris glanced away for a second and then back to him, his eye contact going from shy to intense in a second flat. Jongdae was a little flustered and he forgot to respond for a moment.

“Uhh. It’s-- it’s not a big deal, really. I’m just-- having writer’s block, I guess.”

“Ahh.” Kris nodded stiffly. “Are you writing an essay or something?”

“Oh, no, I’m trying to write a song.” Jongdae lifted a hand to rub at his neck. “Or a couple songs. Or an EP or something. I don’t know what I’m trying to do. I guess that’s the problem, I need structure.”

“Ahh, Hakyeon told me you wrote music, yeah.” Kris nodded again and Jongdae eased a smile at him. Kris blinked at him for a moment before continuing. “I’m sorry I don’t have any instruments back here for you.”

Jongdae laughed. “Ahh, no, that’s fine. This is work. I mostly use my voice anyway.”

“That’s really impressive.” Kris stared at him and Jongdae stared back, then they both broke into sheepish smiles from how awkward they were being. Jongdae felt a little intimidated but not as much as usual. He was slowly learning that maybe his boss wasn’t as scary as he looked, he seemed to have just as much trouble making eye contact as anybody else did. He was just tall.

“Thank you, that’s really nice of you to say. I do my best but sometimes that’s not enough, like right now. Even if I can sing, I can’t write whenever I want to.”

“Do you have to turn something in for a class?” Kris asked, sitting back in his chair.

Jongdae shook his head. “No, it’s for myself.”

“Then what’s the rush? If you try to force something it’ll probably come out rough and you’ll hate it,” Kris told him, and Jongdae blinked.

“That’s true. That’s really true.”

“If you have all the time in the world to write a song then you should take it easy.”

“Aaagh, that’s what I was trying to tell myself before.” Jongdae sighed. “You’re right. The more I think about it the more frustrated I get.” Jongdae dropped his eyes to the floor. “The last song I wrote came out of fucking nowhere and I got it done really fast. I think that’s what works best for me, when it’s spontaneous.”

“Then just wait for something to happen,” Kris gave him a little smile, and Jongdae groaned.

“But I don’t want to wait. I _want_ to create something.”

“You’re too impatient. I forbid you from trying to write a song tonight. Hey--” Kris waved his hand in front of Jongdae’s eyes to get him to look at him. “Don’t worry about any of that, alright? Enjoy yourself, enjoy your time off from your creative exploits.”

“I’m happiest when I’m working...” Jongdae smirked a little and leaned back in his chair, rolling his eyes up at the ceiling. “Okay. I’ll take a break tonight.”

“There we go. Refocus yourself on something else that’s productive, like homework or cleaning my building.” Jongdae looked at Kris to catch a goofy smile and the expression made him grin as well. Jongdae lifted a hand to swat at the air in front of Kris and Kris just smirked at it and stood up.

“I’ll be clean tonight, I promise,” Jongdae told him, and Kris nodded.

“Yeah, you’re always clean,” Kris replied, and Jongdae pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time. There was only about an hour of work left, that was good. He looked up to ask Kris how he was doing, since his boss had had the courtesy to check on him, but when he lifted his head he saw Kris had left as swiftly as he had appeared.

He was weird. Kris was really weird but Jongdae was warming up to him, and he liked that. He waited in his seat for a little while longer, watching his coworkers walk around backstage and fuss around with each other. He was feeling quiet tonight, not really interested in engaging his friends in conversation, instead happy to just watch. Most of the time when he was observant he got something to write about out of it.

 _Damnit_ , there went his brain again. He scowled and jumped up from his chair, feeling fidgety. He had to go do something because sitting backstage wasn’t getting him anywhere. He decided to go out onto the floor and see if Chanyeol was busy, and as soon as he neared the bar and saw his friend’s face he was struck with _oh my god Chanyeol has a guitar ask him if you can borrow his guitar._

Jongdae groaned out loud at himself as he walked up to the bar and Chanyeol gave him an inquisitive look. “Are you alright?”

“I am a struggling artist!” Jongdae claimed, plopping himself down on a barstool and considering the body facedown on the bar next to him. He could tell just from how small and helpless he looked that it was Junmyeon and he laughed, amused at how he hadn’t seen his friend in a week but apparently nothing had changed.

“We are all struggling artists, that is why we do the work we do,” Chanyeol said as he put the finishing touches on a drink that looked vaguely chocolatey. Jongdae was interested in it. “To fund our artistic endeavors.”

“And to feel inspired by the art we create!” Jaehwan added in a rousing voice, reaching a hand over to pick up the drink Chanyeol had made and look it up and down. Chanyeol snorted at the judgement and gave Jongdae a sardonic smile.

“You two are poetic tonight,” Jongdae laughed, and Chanyeol’s smile widened into something happier looking.

“I’m barely awake. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.”

“I’m in love,” Jaehwan said swiftly before walking away with the drink Chanyeol had made. Chanyeol watched him but didn’t lift a hand to stop him, and Jongdae blinked.

“I...I’m sorry you didn’t sleep,” Jongdae said with a smile, deciding to just ignore Jaehwan’s strange behavior for now. “That really sucks. But we’ve only got an hour to go, right? And then you can go home and sleep all you want.”

“Yup, that’s what’s getting me through.” Chanyeol sighed, and then pursed his lips as he eyed Junmyeon sprawled out on the bar. He raised a hand to gently rouse him awake and took it away as soon as Junmyeon stirred. “Hey, you know I can’t let you sit there like that. If you can’t sit up then you’re too drunk and you should probably go home.”

“I’m not too drunk, I’m barely even a little drunk,” Junmyeon told him, and when Chanyeol fixed a hardened look on him Junmyeon frowned apologetically. “I’m sorry, I’ll sit up.”

“Thank you. Jongdae, how are you?” Chanyeol asked, bringing the conversation full circle, and when he lifted his eyes to look at Jongdae, Jongdae saw Junmyeon smiling at him out of the corner of his eye. Jongdae couldn’t help but grin back and swat Junmyeon’s shoulder playfully in greeting.

“Ahh, I’m tired too, to be honest. My brain is tired.”

“Why’s that?”

“I haven’t written a song in a while, I’m in a slump.”

“Oh, I see,” Chanyeol said, bobbing his head up and down in an enthusiastic nod. “I know what that’s like.”

“Yeah. So I’m kind of frustrated but I’m trying not to let it get to me. Kris told me to stop thinking about it but I can’t, though.” Jongdae sighed. “I was thinking, maybe I could play around with your guitar sometime? That might help me out.”

“Ahh, I don’t have it here with me,” Chanyeol said.

“No, I didn’t think you did, I just. Maybe you could bring it and I could take it home for a night or two.” Jongdae studied the blank expression on Chanyeol’s face and couldn’t figure out what was happening there. “If that’s alright with you, of course.”

“Oh...” Chanyeol trailed off, his mouth falling open, and after a moment he closed it, looking surprised with himself. “Oh. Well I have two guitars, I could let you borrow one of them, I guess.”

“Really?” Jongdae asked, his face lighting up, and Chanyeol smiled a little.

“Yeah, uhm, I haven’t tuned the other one in a while...since I’m usually playing on my main one...but I can’t let you get away with that one. It’s mine.” He smiled like a sneaky child and Jongdae laughed out loud at the expression. “But I can tune the other one and bring it in tomorrow night.”

“Fuck, Chanyeol, thank you,” Jongdae told him, and Chanyeol nodded.

“Of course! Fuck if I know where my tuner is but I’ll find it, if not I can just use my phone.”

“Chaaaanyeol!’ Jaehwan called out in a lofty voice from the other side of the bar, and Chanyeol whipped his head around to look at him. “Chanyeol! I need you here!”

“Don’t yell,” Chanyeol chuckled under his breath as he went to attend to Jaehwan, and when Jongdae was left alone he let out a little sigh and then studied the dark circles under Junmyeon’s eyes. He looked positively exhausted and drunker than he had admitted to being.

“Junmyeon, you’re falling asleep,” Jongdae informed him, and Junmyeon gave him a small smile.

“I am not, I’m just resting.”

“That’s exactly what people who are falling asleep say.” Jongdae turned in his chair so he could face Junmyeon, and then reached over to put both hands on Junmyeon’s thigh and shake him back and forth. “You had a fucking date, right? And you never called me, even though you said you would!”

“Ahh, that’s right, I told you I would call you,” Junmyeon said slowly, and Jongdae scoffed.

“Did you forget about me?”

“I guess I did. Last weekend was kind of...” Junmyeon trailed off, looking straight ahead at the wall lined with hard liquors, and Jongdae frowned. He looked down the bar to observe Jaehwan acting positively bubbly while talking to a customer, and frowned deeper. All of the information Jongdae had been given didn’t add up, so he figured he had to find out more.

“What happened? Can you tell me?” Jongdae asked.

“Ahh, Jongdae, it’s really not--”

“--you promised me a story! I wanna know what happened,” Jongdae swallowed, “so maybe I can help you.”

“Nnngh, Jongdae,” Junmyeon grunted, but was unable to stop the grin growing on his face. “You care too much.”

“Yixing tells me that too. I don’t give a fuck, I like caring. Now you gotta talk to me.”

“Can we...” Junmyeon trailed off again, looking over in Jaehwan’s direction, and that was all Jongdae needed to grab Junmyeon’s hand and get up out of his barstool, trying to drag Junmyeon with him.

“Come on, then,” Jongdae managed to get Junmyeon to his feet, and once Junmyeon had his balance he pulled him towards and then through the backstage curtain. Junmyeon made a soft sound of dissent as the curtain brushed over his shoulders and Jongdae turned around. “What’s wrong, Junmyeon? I can tell you’re upset.”

“I don’t think I should be back here,” Junmyeon looked around nervously. “Someone told me that it makes people uncomfortable when I'm back here, and I should respect that.”

Jongdae frowned. “What? Who told you that? Fuck, don’t tell me, that’s actually none of my business.” He looked around the room and spotted a few of the guys he didn’t really interact with on the opposite side of the room, but save for them the backstage area was mostly empty. “Junmyeon, there aren’t even that many people back here. I give you _permission_ to stand here, okay?”

“Jongdae, I don’t know,” Junmyeon said, and Jongdae took both of Junmyeon’s hands in his own and looked him in the eye.

“Sit with me?” He asked, trying to sound compassionate, and Junmyeon stared at him for a moment before smiling weakly.

“Okay.” Once he had Junmyeon’s consent Jongdae pulled him over to Hakyeon and Tao’s chairs and plopped Junmyeon down in Tao’s, thought about it, pulled him up to his feet, and set him in Hakyeon’s seat. Jongdae sat down in Tao’s chair and looked at Junmyeon with a gentle smile.

“Alright, why are you so mopey?”

“Am I really that mopey?” Junmyeon frowned like he was upset with himself and it made Jongdae’s heart twitch.

“Yes, you are rather mopey. It’s upsetting to see, since I like you. Do you think if you talked about it you’d feel better?”

“I’m not going anywhere with Jaehwan,” Junmyeon said, blinking slowly, and Jongdae nodded. He had gathered that much. Junmyeon looked up at Jongdae for reassurance and then continued. “It’s just...it’s not going to work out. But we’re still friends. We both want to be friends and we’re gonna do that and it’s been fun so far. So it’s not even bad.”

“Did something weird happen with him?” Jongdae was afraid that Junmyeon had done something strange since he seemed to tend to do that.

Junmyeon waited for a moment before answering and it made Jongdae’s mind race with all sorts of bizarre shit Junmyeon could’ve hypothetically done last weekend to blow his chances with Jaehwan. “He’s dating someone else now.”

Jongdae furrowed his brow. “What? Last week he told me he wanted to go on a date with you.”

“Yeah.”

“Was he lying? Did he have a boyfriend?”

“No, no, the boyfriend is a new development.”

Jongdae groaned. “I feel like I’m missing a lot of pieces of this story, you’re really bad at telling it.”

“I-I’m sorry, I don’t know what else to say,” Junmyeon said.

“Just start from the beginning. After-- after you called me and told me you were going on a date, start from there, alright? What happened then?”

“I kind of forgot that I was going to see Jaehwan on Saturday,” Junmyeon told him, “and I asked Sanghyuk out on a date. And he said yes.”

Jongdae stared at Junmyeon for a moment and then barked out a laugh at how incredibly stupid that sounded. “Junmyeon! That’s so dumb, why did you do that?”

“I told you, I forgot! And right when Sanghyuk said yes I remembered that I was supposed to see Jaehwan, right? So I went to Jaehwan and apologized to him and he was cool with it. He let me-- he said it was fine if I wanted to hang out with Sanghyuk during the day and then I could go over to his-- Jaehwan’s-- place at night. So I did that and Sanghyuk and I were getting along great but then one thing led to another and I don’t know, we both ended up at Jaehwan’s apartment.”

Jongdae let out another breathy laugh, this one more amused than the last. “Oh, Junmyeon, this sounds like an episode of a sitcom.”

“I think it is. I think if someone wrote a sitcom about my life they’d make a lot of money,” Junmyeon said briskly.

“I should do that,” Jongdae told him.

“Yeah, you should,” Junmyeon agreed.

“We’ll talk business later. What happened when you went to Jaehwan’s?”

“We both had sex with him?” Junmyeon said, the end of his sentence turned up as if he was questioning it. He frowned and winced a little, bracing for impact, but Jongdae didn’t hit him, just sat there and processed the new information.

“Junmyeon...”

“Yes.”

“I feel like...I feel like even though I helped you you took every step to make sure shit got screwed up.”

“I really, really, _really_ didn’t want any of this to happen. I-I like Sanghyuk a lot and maybe I’d go after him if our circumstances were different but fuck I really just wanted to go out with Jaehwan, Jongdae. I just. I fucked up.”

“So are Jaehwan and Sanghyuk dating now? Is that what you’re telling me?” Jongdae asked with a little laugh, and Junmyeon sighed.

“Yeah, they had been flirting with each other for months and apparently all they needed was my push.”

Jongdae laughed out loud at Junmyeon’s wording, and then laughed harder when he couldn’t help himself. “Ahh, Junmyeon!” He put his face in his hands and tried to stop laughing so hard at his friend’s misfortune. “I...I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be laughing. But. But you got your friends together by accident.”

“I know.”

“You’re a better match-maker than I am.”

“I know,” Junmyeon said pointedly, and Jongdae breathed slowly through chuckles.

“I deserved the malice in that. Oh, Junmyeon, I’m sorry. That’s really unfortunate, I’m sorry. I wish that hadn’t happened to you.”

“Thank you. I wish it hadn’t happened either but there’s nothing I can do about that.” Junmyeon sighed. “They probably would’ve ended up together even if I hadn’t scrambled anything. So I assume I just sped up the inevitable.”

“Maybe.”

“I’m starting to think I’m not relationship material. This same thing keeps happening to me. I get left behind for other people.”

Jongdae considered this, and then realized that Junmyeon was right. Jongin had left him for Kyungsoo, and Jongdae himself had ended up with Yixing even though he was pretty sure Junmyeon had been flirting with him the entire time. And now this mess. Jongdae smiled a little but willed himself not to burst out laughing again.

“Junmyeon, don’t beat yourself up about it. I think you’re just-- you’re just being met with a series of strange events. You keep pursuing people at the wrong time, that’s all. I don’t think it has anything to do with you.”

“I don’t know, I feel like this last situation could’ve been avoided.”

“You’re probably right, but it’s over and done now and there’s nothing you can do it about it. So just pick yourself up and we can try again, alright?”

“Ahh, Jongdae, I don’t know if it’s working out,” Junmyeon sighed, “we’ve been at it for a while.”

“I guess that’s true.”

“And you haven’t really gotten me anywhere.”

Jongdae made an affronted sound. “I got you one boyfriend and one date.”

“Yeah, and they both ended up leaving,” Junmyeon frowned.

Jongdae blinked. “I had sex with you, at least.”

“But you’re not having sex with me anymore,” Junmyeon said plainly, and then cracked a little smile that Jongdae returned.

“That is true. I wish I could help you on that front but I like Yixing more than anything in the world.” He sighed. “We can just try again, right? We shouldn’t give up. Don’t give up! Don’t think you’re unlovable just because some weird things keep happening!”

“Maybe we should at least take a break,” Junmyeon groaned, “I’m kind of worn out. This all sounds really goofy but,” he dropped his voice and frowned, “it sucks.”

Jongdae felt his heart twitch again and felt terrible that there wasn’t anything he could do to help his friend. “I-- I can imagine that. Ahh, I’m sorry, Junmyeon. Give me some time and I’ll figure something out. I can ask Yixing to help me and I’m sure he’ll come up with something.”

Junmyeon hardly even moved in response and Jongdae didn’t know how to take that. “Junmyeon, you’re thinking the right thing, okay? Take a break from all this.”

“I can do that,” he said quietly.

“Take a break from the madness. Take a break from my madness,” Jongdae sighed, feeling as if this was partly his fault. “I won’t try to set you up with anyone until you tell me you’re interested. Alright?”

“Okay, I like that.”

“Good. We’ll figure out something for sure this time.” Jongdae nodded, and Junmyeon blinked at him for a moment before breaking into a grin.

“Ahh, Jongdae, fuck. I can’t feel miserable for myself when you’re so excited to get me a date.”

“Good!” Jongdae laughed. “Good! I want to be able to make you smile. You look so upset even though you should be laughing because your life is so funny.”

“Yeah, it’s really funny,” Junmyeon said quietly, his gaze fixed on the legs of Jongdae’s chair so intently that he didn’t look up when Sehun tore through the curtain in a dramatic movement and then called Jongdae’s name.

“Jongdae! There’s booze on the floor, Kris told me to get you,” he said, walking over to him, and his eyes eventually set on Junmyeon’s face. “Hey, you. Junmyeon, right?”

Jongdae almost wanted to tell Sehun to leave Junmyeon alone tonight, but he was a tiny bit amused and had an alcohol spill on his mind. He went up to go get his mop from his closet, but stayed watching Sehun and Junmyeon. Junmyeon looked up at Sehun towering over him and Jongdae thought he looked positively small. “Yes, that’s my name. And you’re Sehun.”

“Yeah, of course. You’re not doing anything right now, yeah? Let me give you a lap dance,” Sehun said, and Junmyeon choked out a laugh.

“What? I-- uhh.”

“I made like three fucking dollars tonight. I need to make more than that. Let me dance on you.” Sehun furrowed his brow down at Junmyeon, and when Junmyeon hesitated to answer Sehun lifted a hand and smacked his shoulder. “Come on, come on.”  
“I...I guess so?” Junmyeon laughed shakily. “Why would I turn down a lap dance? I guess.”

“Awesome,” Sehun reached out and grabbed Junmyeon’s wrist in his hand, yanking on him so violently that Jongdae was surprised Junmyeon’s arm didn’t pop out of the socket. “It’ll be done fast,” he said, and Junmyeon shot Jongdae a concerned look before being dragged down towards the private rooms.

Jongdae was mostly sure that Sehun wasn’t going to sacrifice Junmyeon to the devil or anything so he was content to let it happen. Maybe it would take Junmyeon’s mind off of how upset he had been. Jongdae rolled his mop out and went to go clean up the spill, and once it was done he brought everything back and put it away, pleased to find that Minseok had returned backstage and was packing his things up to leave. Jongdae saw Chanyeol waiting around by Minseok’s vanity for him and smiled.

“Are you leaving early?” Jongdae asked him.

“No, I’m just on break,” Chanyeol said. “We’re not too busy at the bar right now anyway.”

“Awesome,” Jongdae said, and when he checked his phone for the time he saw he only had about twenty minutes left. He sat down in Hakyeon’s chair and opened the laptop he had left there on the desk, ready to immerse himself in Pokémon for a short while.

He listened to Chanyeol and Minseok having a quiet conversation and liked the way how everything that left their lips felt warm. They spoke to each other in low, gentle voices and Jongdae almost got the feeling that they were being too intimate for Jongdae to overhear, but they were just talking about whether or not they should go shopping tomorrow. It made Jongdae miss Yixing and he felt a tiny bit foolish for it, but not foolish enough to stop himself from taking out his phone and opening Snapchat.

He snapped a picture of his Magneton from the laptop screen and sent it Yixing’s way, hoping Yixing would open it soon. Obviously his Magneton was important enough for an immediate response. About a minute later Jongdae saw that Yixing had opened his snapchat, and he jumped a little in his seat, excited and hoping Yixing would reply.

It took another minute but then Jongdae received a six-second dimly-lit photograph of what Jongdae recognized as the oven in Yixing’s kitchen. Yixing was probably cooking something. He did that a lot. Jongdae took a creeper picture of Minseok and Chanyeol conversing and drew on it with bright yellows and blues, and then sent it to Yixing.

The Pokémon game became boring as Jongdae waited for Yixing to reply to him. It took another five minutes but then Jongdae received a video, and he made an audible sound when he realized it was different. Yixing had figured out how to send a video pretty damn easily, Jongdae had underestimated him. It was seven seconds of Yixing breathing cloudy white smoke into the camera, and then a final second of Yixing smiling at him. Jongdae felt his heart did a flip and then felt foolish, then immediately felt awesome. Feeling foolish was for the weak. He had a boyfriend and he was allowed to be ecstatic about it.

“Chanyeol,” Jongdae called out, holding up his phone, and when Chanyeol turned around to look at him Jongdae snapped a picture. “Thank you,” he said, starting to scribble on the picture in red, and Chanyeol snorted at him.

“What was that? Did you take a picture of me?”  
“I took a snapchat.”

“Who are you sending that to?”

“Yixing.”

“Ahh, alright then,” Chanyeol said with a smile, and then turned back to Minseok to continue their conversation as if nothing happened. Jongdae finished his masterpiece and sent it to Yixing, and ten minutes later after religiously checking the app, he saw that Yixing still had yet to open it. That was frustrating, but whatever. Work was almost over.

Chanyeol was helping Minseok put his coat on when Sehun came backstage and made a beeline for Hoseok’s station on the opposite side of the room. He brandished a bill from the inside of his boxer shorts and Jongdae watched Hoseok’s mouth nearly drop to the floor.

“Where did you get that?” Hoseok asked him, reaching out to grab the bill, but Sehun moved it away from him.

“I gave a guy a lap dance,” Sehun said airily, and Hoseok scoffed.

“You did not.”

“I did so.”

“And you charged that much?”

“Sehun, what are you doing?” Minseok asked, looking in their direction, and Sehun turned around to smile and wave his money at him.

“I’m showing Hoseok the money I made.”  
“Is that a hundred dollar bill?”

Sehun grinned. “Fuckin’ bet it is.”

Jongdae saw the creases on either side of Minseok’s mouth deepen. “Sehun. How can you make that much?”

“I told you, I gave a guy a lap dance and he gave me this!”

“Are you lying?” Chanyeol asked, his face stony, and Sehun pursed his lips.

“I swear, I’m not. Why the fuck do you think I’m lying?”

“I thought lap dances were only like, forty dollars, for starters,” Chanyeol said.

“And you’ve asked me how to get guys to pay for sex before,” Minseok added, looking unamused, and Sehun scoffed out a laugh.

“I’m not doing that! I’m not fucking lying to you, I swear he gave this to me because I danced on him. It was legal. It was all totally legal.”

“Sehun,” Chanyeol said shortly, and Sehun curled his upper lip.

“I’m not lying, seriously!”

“Why would someone pay you that much for a lap dance?” Chanyeol asked.

“Because I’m fucking _hot?”_ Sehun said matter-of-factly. Chanyeol laughed.

“I don’t know if you’re lying to us or not but I don’t want you sleeping with people for money, Sehun,” Minseok said sternly. “That’s not safe and it’s not legal. You’re not a minor, you can get in serious trouble.”

“I know all that, oh my god! I promise you I’m not fucking anybody for cash!” Sehun stuffed the bill back into his boxers and scowled. “You guys, ruining all the fun.”

“I’m jealous,” Hoseok grumbled, and Sehun smiled at him.

“Thank you, Hoseok.”

Hoseok blinked at him. “That wasn’t...a compliment?”

“You’re welcome,” Sehun said shortly, going over to his chair and plopping down limply. Jongdae smiled a little as he watched Sehun pull out his phone, and then Sehun leapt to his feet once more. “It’s two! We’re free!”

Jongdae started to pack up his laptop when his phone buzzed to tell him he had a new snapchat from Yixing. He opened it immediately and saw that it was a black background with the words “cum over” written in a very light blue. Jongdae laughed to himself and nodded. He would do that.

He said goodbye to Chanyeol and Minseok as they left, and then went to make his end of the night rounds with his mop and bucket. Once he had cleaned everything he returned backstage to find that he and Hoseok were the only ones left. Jongdae didn’t really know Hoseok, he was just pretty sure Hoseok was younger than him and had his own friends. Jongdae gave him a little wave goodbye as he was leaving regardless.

Jongdae zipped up his backpack and was ready to trek off to Yixing’s apartment when he whipped around and saw Junmyeon standing hesitantly in the curtained doorway. Jongdae eased a smile at him. “Hey, you can actually come in now, there’s nobody here but me.”

“Cool,” Junmyeon said, sounding a little more alive than usual. He took a few steps in and smiled. “Uhh.”

“What’s up? Are you okay?”

“Sehun,” Junmyeon said bluntly. “I...I like Sehun. I want to spend time with Sehun.”

Jongdae wasn’t expecting this sudden change of heart, and he laughed airily. “What’s this? I thought you were gonna avoid the dating pool for a while.”

“I...” Junmyeon trailed off, and Jongdae noted a light pink blush rise to his face. Jongdae just grinned wider at him.

“Do you want me to talk to Sehun for you?”

“No, I, I want to do it,” Junmyeon nodded. “I can do it myself.”

“Really? You sure?”

“Don’t doubt me!” Junmyeon laughed, and Jongdae laughed back at him.

“Alright, sure! I’m sure you guys already have something going, since he liked you enough to call you out tonight,” Jongdae smiled, and Junmyeon shook his head.

“He just did that because he knew I’d pay him.”

“Well, it is his job.”

“Yeah, yeah, of course. But I will make him like me. Seriously. I am charming,” Junmyeon said, trying to sound confident, and Jongdae laughed again as he walked up to him, motioning for him to follow him out.

“I’m sure! You’ll do great, seriously. Send me a text or a snapchat or something when it happens, okay? I want to know.”

“Alright, I will!”

“And don’t forget!”

“I won’t, I promise!” Junmyeon gave him a thumbs up and Jongdae laughed out loud, leaving him standing in the doorway since Junmyeon appeared to be waiting around for something. Jongdae thought to tell him that Sehun had already left but figured Junmyeon would find out that much on his own, so he didn’t bother.

He went out on the street and hailed a cab quickly, jumping in the back of it and telling the driver Yixing’s address, something he had memorized after hearing Yixing dictate it so many times before. When the car started to drive off he opened his snapchat to tell Yixing he was on his way through a blurry, dimly-lit selfie, but once was the picture was taken and he was looking at it, he decided he didn’t like it.

He turned his phone around, started a video, and very quietly sang towards the camera, “I’m on my way~” and sent it before he could get embarrassed and chicken out. When it was done he let out a sigh of relief. There, that was the damn song he wrote today. It was short but to the point. He was going to see his boyfriend and maybe he’d want to write a song the moment he saw Yixing’s face.

 

 


	21. jongdae smiles a lot at work and teaches guitar lessons

The next day when Jongdae turned the corner to go backstage and set himself up at Hakyeon’s vanity, he stopped in his tracks when he saw Hakyeon sitting there, putting on eyeliner as if it was just another day at work. Jongdae felt his mouth drop open and he stood there awkwardly for a moment before voicing his excitement and rushing over. “Hakyeon! You’re here!”

Hakyeon whipped around sharply when Jongdae put his hand on his shoulder, and immediately his face spread in a wide grin. He rose to his feet and took Jongdae into a bear hug that Jongdae responded eagerly to. “Ahh, it’s so good to see you,” Hakyeon said with a playful growl in his voice, lifting a hand to ruffle Jongdae’s hair and shove his face into his neck. Jongdae laughed and pulled away from the hug after a moment.

“Where have you even been? You’ve been gone for like! A month! And nobody here would fuckin’ tell me where you went, everyone was just like ‘oh Hakyeon is taking a break’ as if that’s a thing you can just do.” Jongdae laughed a little bit and looked around for somewhere to sit down.

“Ahh, yeah.” Hakyeon gave him a small, stiff smile and sat back down in his chair. Jongdae huffed a little before setting his bag down and sitting down in Tao’s chair, only because it was close and Tao wasn’t there at the moment. When Tao came back he’d have to move and find an actual corner of the room for himself, but for now he could sit here. Jongdae looked up at Hakyeon and blinked at him. “Well, I really was just on a break. Nobody was lying to you.”

Jongdae’s brow furrowed. “Did something happen? Is everything okay?”

Hakyeon smiled at him. “Everything’s fine, everything’s fine now. It was kind of bumpy at first but, but everything’s cleared up now.”

“Was it your family?” Jongdae dropped his voice despite their side of the room being mostly empty, and Hakyeon shook his head.

“No, it was all me. I wasn’t...in the best place. I was getting a little more anxious each day, I suppose.” He lifted his hands and rubbed his arms with them, looking thoughtfully at the floor. “So I just needed a break from...the things that were making me anxious. And Kris was good enough to me to let me have that.”

“Wah, Kris is so nice.” Jongdae nodded resolutely and Hakyeon laughed a little.

“You’re right, he is.”

“I’m glad you feel better.” Jongdae smiled sheepishly at him. “To be honest I hadn’t even picked up that you weren’t feeling well. I guess I wasn’t paying close enough attention. But I’m really glad you’re feeling better now.”

“Awh, thank you, Jongdae. You’re so sweet.” Hakyeon gave him a wide smile. “It’s all coming together, slowly, but surely. My new place feels more like home and my cat...my cat isn’t ripping up the furniture anymore. I have a boyfriend.” His smile twitched somewhat as if it was going to explode off of his face. “It’s nice.”

“Really?! You have a boyfriend now?” Jongdae realized that he hadn’t actually told Hakyeon about Yixing yet, and it made him feel dumb. He had kept telling himself to send a simple text to Hakyeon at some point but then he kept forgetting. “What’s his name? Do I know him?”

“‘S Taekwoon! You know Taekwoon, don’t you? He works here,” Hakyeon said, and Jongdae blinked a couple times. He was certain he had heard that name before. Apparently this was playing out on his face because Hakyeon continued. “He’s the guy who pulls the curtain. Stage manager, I guess. He’s rather quiet.”

Jongdae snapped his fingers. “Yes, I know him!” He pointed over in the direction of the curtain, and waved his hand at it. “I’ve seen him! I’m pretty sure I’ve spoken to him before, I think I’ve met everyone here.”

“He tends to slip under the radar so don’t worry about it. He’s...he’s wonderful.” Hakyeon’s smile was blinding and it made Jongdae grin at him as well. “He’s been really good to me.”

“That’s great. I’m so glad you’re so happy, ahh. I was worried about you, y’know, I missed seeing you at work so much.”

“Then maybe you should’ve called me,” Hakyeon said, raising his upper lip to make his disgusted face at Jongdae, but Jongdae knew he was being playful.

He laughed at him. “I didn’t know where you were! I didn’t know if you were on vacation or sick or in jail, I don’t know, I kept forgetting! Ahh! Don’t look at me like that!” Jongdae laughed again when Hakyeon raised a flippant hand and waved him away. “Hey! I’m sorry, but I’m really happy you’re here now, right?”

“I hope you call your mom more often than you call me,” Hakyeon said, and Jongdae snorted.

“I do! But she doesn’t live here.” He grinned at Hakyeon, feeling a little giggly from the conversation. “Y’know, I have a boyfriend now, too. You missed a lot.”

Hakyeon’s eyes went wide and his face tightened, and Jongdae laughed out loud at the expression. “You do not. You have a boyfriend and you didn’t tell me?!”  
“I already explained myself! Don’t start this again!”

“Is it somebody from your school? Oh my gosh, so cute,” Hakyeon sat up a bit in his seat, and Jongdae shook his head.

“No, he works here.”

Jongdae noticed Hakyeon’s face fall and cackled at that response. “Oh, damn.” Hakyeon said. “Well now I’m disappointed.”

Jongdae laughed again and Hakyeon smiled at him. “You know him, you know him. I want you to guess.”  
“You want me to guess who you’re dating? Ahh.” Hakyeon sat back in his seat and stared at Jongdae. “Yixing.”

“You....wuh.” Jongdae blinked at this sudden answer. “You got it. You nailed it in one guess.” Hakyeon grinned at himself and Jongdae scoffed. “How did you know that? Why did you guess Yixing right away?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Hakyeon smiled as if he knew something and Jongdae whined at him. “You two always seemed kind of flirty, I guess I was just thinking of that.”

“Were we...really that flirty?” Jongdae never noticed these things and he was starting to feel like an idiot for it. “I didn’t think we were.”

“Well, he’s kind of flirty with everyone he talks to, and you responded well. And you’d always be staring at him when he wasn’t looking, and the other way around, too.” Hakyeon shrugged, the smile on his face still not fading. “It made sense to me. I’m not entirely surprised.”

“He looked at me?” Jongdae felt his heart beat loudly in his chest and smiled. “That’s so cool. Hah. I guess we were being kind of obvious. Chanyeol and Jaehwan knew too.” He lifted his hand to rub at his temple, then broke into a smile. “So you don’t like it? You don’t want me to date someone who works here?”

“No, no, don’t think that. We’re all good guys here. I love Yixing, he’s hilarious. And I can’t imagine him taking advantage of you. He’s sweet. You’re sweet. It works out.” Hakyeon’s smile tightened a little bit. “And I hit it first, so I don’t feel like I’m missing out.”

“Hakyeon!” Jongdae called out, and Hakyeon chuckled at himself, raising a hand to wave at Jongdae.

“Ahh, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“You’ve slept with him?” Jongdae felt his eyebrows curving but couldn’t shake the smile from his face.

“We’ve worked together for like four years!”

“That’s not an answer!”

“Ahhh, Jongdae. I can’t believe you’re dating someone from here. I thought for sure you’d find some musical kid at your school.”

“Really? How often do you think about my love life?”

“I mean, not very often at all. But I still wouldn’t have imagined you with anyone from here.” Hakyeon laughed. “There’s nothing wrong with that, though! Yixing is a great guy. I approve. You have my permission to date him.” He smirked. “And if he messes with you, then you tell me, and I’ll ruin his life.”

Jongdae laughed out loud and stood up from his chair. “Ahh, thank you, Hakyeon. I feel so safe now with you back.” He looked around the room and sighed. “Now that you’re here, I have to find a new place to sit. I kind of adopted your spot while you were gone.”

“Isn’t there a free chair over there?” Hakyeon motioned his hand, and Jongdae looked over.

“Oh, no, that’s where Sehun sits now.”

“Oh, alright. Hmm, we’ve gotta talk to Kris about getting you a chair.” Hakyeon huffed and patted the chair next to his. “I don’t think Minseok is coming in tonight, you can just sit here, if you want.”

“Ahh! I guess I’ll do that.” Jongdae moved his bag over to Minseok’s chair and smoothed his shirt out. “I’m gonna go walk around, see if there’s anything I have to pick up.”

“You work so well,” Hakyeon told him, going back to his makeup, and Jongdae smiled a little at the compliment. He went out onto the floor and made his rounds around the building, and found that there wasn’t anything in particular that needed a once-over. Most of the time his job felt too easy, but he wasn’t about to start complaining he needed more work.

He sat down at one of the tables by the stage and started playing on his phone for lack of a better thing to do. The nights always started slow at first, then picked up when it got closer to midnight. There wasn’t much to look at yet.

He got what he was waiting for, though, when he saw Yixing walking in through the front door a casual seven minutes after work started. He grinned and got out of his chair to go over to him, and appreciated the goofy smile on Yixing’s face when he saw him. “Hey!”

“Am I late?” Yixing asked in a low voice, raising his eyebrows and making a face that told him he clearly knew the answer to this question. Jongdae laughed at him.

“Yeah, but I won’t tell on you. How are you?”

“I’m awesome, I did a whole lot of nothing today. Those are my favorite days.” He nodded and motioned for Jongdae to follow him backstage, so Jongdae went to push in the chair he had been sitting in and trail after him.

Yixing threw back the curtain even more dramatically than he usually did when they got backstage, and Jongdae assumed he was trying to announce both of their arrivals. He laughed out loud when Yixing immediately started yelling when he saw Hakyeon, and shuffled over to Minseok’s chair so he wouldn’t bother them.

Hakyeon didn’t seem willing to tell Yixing any more information than he told Jongdae, and Jongdae was somewhat amused by it. Yixing seemed to pick up that it was a sensitive topic, though, so he didn’t press it much. When Hakyeon alerted Yixing that Jongdae had told him about their dating, Jongdae peeked over and grinned at him to see Yixing glance over at him and smile.

“Ahh, did he really? He’s bragging about me, isn’t he?” Yixing chuckled a little and Hakyeon reached out to swat him.

“You should be the one bragging about him, you got a catch.”

“Yeah, I did, I really did.” Yixing smirked at Jongdae for a moment, then made his farewells so he could go to his dressing room and get ready. Jongdae listened to Hakyeon quietly mumbling to himself about how his children were growing up, and he grinned.

When he opened his laptop on Minseok’s desk he was met with the Jazz History reading he had neglected to finish today. He sighed. He only had about three weeks of school left, and then finals, and summer break. He wasn’t looking forward to anything, except for the piano back at his house in DC. _That_ he missed, that was the main reason he wanted to go home. And to see his parents of course, but he would video call with them sometimes, so he didn’t feel entirely disconnected. He couldn’t just Skype with his piano.

He convinced himself to finish his homework so it wouldn’t pile up and hit him over the head once finals week rolled around. He was grateful for tonight being a slow night at work, and he didn’t notice that almost a half hour had gone by since he first opened his laptop to do his work. When he looked away from the screen he noticed a new crop of people had appeared in his space, and Hakyeon and Yixing were elsewhere. He blinked and sighed a little, feeling tired of his homework already. He had almost five hours of work to go. He could make it.

A couple more hours went by, and Jongdae noticed from how quiet everyone was being that it wasn’t a very busy night at all. Usually someone came backstage to tell Jongdae he had to clean something up at least once every night, but that hadn’t happened yet. There didn’t seem to be a lot of people working tonight either, and it brought the liveliness of the room down. Jongdae was okay with this, though, because when there wasn’t a lot of action, he got more work done.

Yixing still managed to make himself scarce and Jongdae didn’t know if he appreciated his willingness to work his ass off every night or not. A little after midnight Yixing came over to where Jongdae was sitting and sat down with him, and Jongdae took the time to play his Pokémon game and show Yixing all of the Pokémon he had caught. Yixing seemed genuinely interested in seeing them and it made Jongdae’s heart flutter a little bit. He told Jongdae that Jongdae was better at playing Pokémon than he had ever been, and it made Jongdae laugh.

“How can someone be bad at Pokémon, though?”

Yixing made a sound of dissent. “Hey, I didn’t say I was bad. I just said that you’re better than me. And hell, I haven’t played a Pokémon game in years, maybe I’ve gotten better than I was when I was a kid.”

“If you’re out of practice then you’ve probably gotten even worse, y’know.”

“People don’t just forget how to play Pokémon. It’s like riding a bike. Why are you making that face at me?” Yixing sounded indignant when Jongdae rolled his eyes at him, then laughed out loud. “Don’t make that face at me, like you’re the best damn Pokémon player there is! Don’t be making that face at me when you’ve been playing this file for like a month and you’ve got only six badges!”

“I’m playing it slowly! Don’t rush me!”

“Talk to me when you’ve got all ten!”

Jongdae laughed out loud, slapping his hand down on his knee. “There are only eight! You only have to get eight badges! See, you don’t even know what you’re yelling about!”

“I watched Digimon when I was a kid!” Yixing couldn’t knock the smile from his face and it made Jongdae grin harder at him.

“Ahhh, you’re cute,” Tao sneered in their direction, and both Jongdae and Yixing turned to pull faces at him.

“How are we cute?” Yixing asked him. “We’re literally arguing about a video game. If anything we’re annoying.”

“No, you’re cute.” Tao smirked at them a little. “Now that you two are dating, everything you do is cute. That’s just the way it is.”

“Ahhh, I’m gonna start calling you and Kris cute, see how you like it,” Yixing groaned, and Tao laughed.

“I won’t even mind that because we _are_ cute. Kris and I are adorable.”

“Sure, sure.” Yixing stood up from his chair and brushed himself off. “I should probably go back to work. Since, you know, I work all the time, instead of dating my boss,” he said as affectionately as he could.

“Alright, work hard,” Jongdae told him, holding a little fist up, and Yixing smiled down at him. He reached out to grab Jongdae’s face in his hands and kiss him on the lips, and Jongdae made a soft sound when he pulled away.

“Now you’re trying to be cute on purpose,” Tao said, and Yixing cackled at him, swatting him on the back of the head before leaving the room.

When Yixing wasn’t backstage, Jongdae noticed the area was a lot quieter. Jongdae wondered how one person could carry such loudness in their body, but then realized that he was probably the loudest person he knew despite his height, so that shouldn’t be such a mystery to him.

The tranquility of the room was broken when Sehun started whining at Tao for taking something out of his dressing room, and Jongdae glanced over at them just to observe. Tao didn’t seem to be in the mood to deal with Sehun, and he kept his eyes glued to his phone as Sehun yelled, so Sehun got up from his chair to go over to Tao and snatch his phone out of his hands.

“Don’t take my makeup again, or I’ll take your shit,” Sehun warned him, and Tao’s mouth dropped open as if Sehun had just slit a child’s throat in front of him.

“Give me my phone!”

“Don’t take my makeup, Tao!” Sehun told him, and Tao scowled as he reached out and grabbed his phone back.

“Fine, I won’t go into your dressing room again. Your makeup’s all shitty anyway,” he said, trying to go back to where he was on his phone, and while Tao’s face was down Sehun gave him a dirty look and huffed.

“If it’s shitty then you shouldn’t be using it. I figured you’d only want to be using expensive shit for your expensive face,” Sehun spat, going back to his chair, and Tao barked out a laugh.

“Thanks for knowing where the real money lies.”

“I think he was implying that you’ve had plastic surgery,” Hoseok pointed out from his chair a few feet away from Sehun’s. Tao blinked at him and then turned to Sehun, who Jongdae could see was grinning in the reflection of his mirror.

“You’re an asshole, I have never had plastic surgery. This--” he lifted his free hand to motion around his face “--is all natural.” This made Sehun laugh out loud and Tao grumbled at him, turning his attention back to his phone. “Shut up.”

That seemed to be all Sehun and Tao wanted from each other, and Jongdae was grateful for it, since he didn’t like it when his coworkers argued. He was always afraid a scuffle would break out and he’d have to pull someone away from a fight, since Yixing made it sound like such a common occurrence. He thought about who would win in a fight between Tao and Sehun and he was pretty sure he would put his money on Tao.

Hakyeon came backstage looking unamused and Jongdae snorted at the look on his face. “There’s like nobody here tonight!” Hakyeon told him as he moved to sit down in his chair.

Jongdae groaned. “That sucks. Guess people don’t wanna get horny tonight.”

“I wanted a party for my return and the people give me nothing.”

“Maybe a bachelorette party will come in later or something,” Tao intoned, and Hakyeon snorted.

“Yes, I love nothing more than dancing on drunk women.”

Jongdae laughed a little bit, and as he looked around Hakyeon and Tao’s heads to mindlessly admire Sehun’s ass, he felt like he was forgetting to do something. That couldn’t be right. He had a list of his homework right in front of him on the computer, he was certain everything was there. He didn’t do anything other than homework, since he was a slave to his classes.

He spaced out looking at Sehun’s ass and then came back to earth when he realized that’s what had been bugging him in the first place. Junmyeon had shown interest in Sehun yesterday, and Jongdae was mostly sure Junmyeon was going to fuck it up, since he tended to do that. Hmm. Junmyeon had told Jongdae that he was going to do it himself, but Jongdae didn’t know how much he trusted that.

His matchmaker heart was thumping, so he got up from his chair and went over to where Sehun was. He managed to pull over an open chair and sit down in it so he could look at Sehun. “Hey, hey. Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, what’s up?” Sehun asked him, his tongue darting out to wet his lips, and Jongdae laughed a little at the movement.

“You know Junmyeon, right? You gave him a lap dance last night, I’m pretty sure.”

“Yeah, I know Junmyeon.”

“What do you think of him?”

Sehun blinked as Jongdae, as if he had to come up with a really good response to this. “Tao told me he has a lot of money,” is what he decided to say, and it made Jongdae stare blankly at him. He didn’t quite know how to work with that.

“Ahhh, you might be right, I don’t know,” Jongdae lied, lifting a hand to rub at the back of his neck. “That’s good though. You like that?”

Sehun laughed. “Yeah, I do like that. Wouldn’t you?”

Jongdae made a soft sound at the question. “I’m not really worried about that, but it is nice, yeah.” He didn’t know where to go from there, and it made him wonder why he even came over here in the first place if he had no plan of attack. “So...do you like him at all? He was nice when he talked to you, right?”

“Yeah, he was nice.” Sehun looked at himself in his mirror and sat there for a moment, thinking of what to say. “He’s pretty hot. Kind of...kind of dorky.”

Jongdae laughed a little. “Yeah, he is kind of dorky. I think he’s pretty funny. Ahh. Do you think you'd go out on a date with him or something?” Okay he had no idea what he was doing at this point. He looked around to make sure nobody was paying attention to them, and was comforted to see everyone else in the room busy with their phones or each other.

“Go out on a date with him?” Sehun repeated, and for a second Jongdae felt as if he was Junmyeon’s pimp or something. Sehun made a soft airy sound as he thought it over. “I don’t know.”

“He might buy you things,” Jongdae said out of desperation, and then made a face at himself. He sounded like he was trying to write Junmyeon off as a sugar daddy. That was probably not the ideal way to set up a relationship. “I mean, since you said he has money, and all. I don’t know.”

“Would he really?” Sehun appeared to have a sudden devilish interest in his eyes, and Jongdae didn’t think this was the kind of reaction he had been hoping for. Oh...well. He had done this and now he was going to have to deal with it.

“I don’t know, that’s something you’d have to ask him.”

“Okay, I can do that.” Sehun looked pleased with himself and Jongdae didn’t know if he had fucked up or not.

“So you want to go out on a date with him?”

“Maybe, if he asks me or something.” Sehun shrugged. “If he takes too long I might ask him. I dunno. Is he here tonight?”

“Oh...y’know, I don’t know. I didn’t see him around. He’ll probably be around sometime this week.”

“If you see him, tell me, ahh.” Sehun gave Jongdae a little smile and Jongdae smiled back at him.

“Okay, I will.” That was all Jongdae wanted out of the conversation, and now he felt awkward. He assumed Sehun had picked up that Jongdae and Junmyeon were in communication with each other on this, but maybe he was thinking too much into it. And besides, he didn’t think that really mattered. He got up and went back to Minseok’s chair, and immediately Hakyeon scooted over and gave him a look.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” Hakyeon asked him, and Jongdae exhaled loudly. He had hoped nobody had been listening to him and Sehun, but that was a lot to ask for when everyone was seated so close together.

“Yeah, I do! I do, don’t worry.” Jongdae told him, and Hakyeon pursed his lips as if he was going to say something. Nothing came out, so Jongdae tried to comfort him more. “I am a master match-maker, seriously.”

“Alright.” Hakyeon said. “I’ll watch.”

“Thanks. I need your help sometimes.” That made Hakyeon smile, and that’s what Jongdae had been intending to do. When Hakyeon went back to his seat Jongdae pulled out his phone to text Junmyeon, and twenty minutes later when he didn’t get a response he sighed a little. Junmyeon was probably asleep at 1am like a normal person who had class in the morning would be. He could just tell him Sehun was interested in him tomorrow.

He didn’t know if Sehun was interested in Junmyeon or his money, but he didn’t want to dwell on that. At some point he was going to have to let Junmyeon handle his own relationships by himself, and then he’d be able to stop worrying about it.

He played around on his computer for a while longer, and shot out of his seat when he noticed Yixing slinking down the back hallway to get to his dressing room. He wanted to bother him, since it was fun. He followed him back to the dressing room that he knew belonged to Yixing, and stood in the open doorway for a few moments, watching him fuss around with the things on his desk.

“Hey,” Jongdae called out to Yixing, reaching into his back pocket for his wallet. Yixing turned around to look at him and Jongdae pulled a ten-dollar bill from his wallet, waving it back and forth in the air. “What can this get me?”

Yixing snorted at him. “I’ll smile coyly at you,” he said, refusing to be so cheap.

“Sounds awesome,” Jongdae said with a smile, and then put the money away, going further into the room. “Are you making a lot tonight?”

“No, there’s hardly anyone here.” Yixing sighed to himself as he scrolled around his phone. “At least I’ll get paid for showing up. That’s always good. Hey--” he laughed out loud when he saw Jongdae moving to open his dresser drawers. “What are you doing? Fucking around with my stuff.”

“I’m not doing anything! I just wanna see your clothes.” Jongdae laughed at the assortment of underwear he was met with. “These are hardly clothes.”

“Well, I’m a stripper, the whole point is that I take clothes off.” Yixing told him. Jongdae moved to open another drawer and Yixing made a sound at him. “Don’t go digging around, I share this room with Minseok. Not everything is mine.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know that.” Jongdae stopped messing with the drawer and decided to look through the drawer of underwear he had opened. “You don’t ever wear this stuff at your apartment.”

“I have my own boxers that I wear. This isn’t my style.” He laughed at himself as if he had just said something funny. “These are work clothes to me.”

“How do these even fit?” Jongdae picked up a black pair that looked impossibly small and held them up. “These are too small for you.”  
“Well, they’re tight. But you’re right, they’re kind of small. They’d probably fit on you better.”

“Really?” Jongdae questioned, and then thought about it while he stared at the boxers. He thought _why not_ and then started to kick off his shoes. “I want to try them on, then.”

Yixing burst out laughing and clapped his hands in front of him, and Jongdae was amused by the response. “Are you serious?” Yixing went over to close his dressing room door, and Jongdae was grateful for it.

“Yeah, why the fuck not? I’ve always been kind of curious, and now I have the means to. Are these clean?” he asked.

“You swallow my cum,” Yixing replied in a monotone, and Jongdae nodded.

“That’s right, I don’t care.” He wriggled out of his pants and underwear, and laughed when Yixing whistled at him.

“You’re naked at work,” Yixing teased, and Jongdae grunted at him.

“I’m in a dressing room, it’s fine!”

“You’re the janitor though, you shouldn’t ever be naked at work, ahh, you’re breaking so many rules, you rule-breaker.” Yixing smirked at Jongdae as he watched him slip the boxers on, and laughed at the contorted face Jongdae made as he tried to pull them over himself. “Shouldn’t those fit? You’re smaller than me, your hips are smaller than mine. Ahh.” He made a sound as Jongdae made sure the elastic of the waistband was right around his hips. “They’re all tight like that because you’ve got more ass than I do.”

“What?” Jongdae looked behind him as if he was going to be able to see his ass like that. “I do not.”

“Yes you do, don’t play dumb. You have more than enough ass to fill those out. You’re going to rip them open if you try to sit down,” Yixing said, and that got him a light smack on the arm that made him laugh out loud. “You look good.”

“Do I really?” Jongdae went over to the wall mirror in the corner of the room and lifted up his shirt a bit as he looked at himself. “Ahh, these look kinda big on me.”

“Well, they are too big for you. Take your shirt off,” Yixing told him with a smile, and Jongdae did as he was instructed, throwing his shirt to the floor. Yixing nodded at him. “Yeah, you look really good. Damn.”

“Am I hot enough to be a stripper? Don’t answer that,” Jongdae said, raising his eyebrow and smirking at Yixing.

Yixing laughed. “You’re hot enough, but I doubt you could dance well enough.”

“I agree with that. I was not made to dance.” Jongdae looked back at himself in the mirror, admiring the way the elastic on the waistband hugged him tightly. When he turned around he noticed that his ass did look pretty good in these boxers, which was something he didn’t find himself thinking about his body very often. He liked that.

“I wanna show Hakyeon how stupid I look,” he said with a smile, taking a step towards the door, then he frowned. “I shouldn’t go walking around like this though.”

“Why not?” Yixing grinned at him. “The rest of us do.”

“I’ve never been this naked in front of our coworkers! Wuh.” Jongdae huffed. “Can you go get Hakyeon for me?”

Yixing laughed a little, the sound trailing off as he thought about it. “Ahh...I don’t know.”

Jongdae made an offended sound. “What? Why can’t I show Hakyeon?”

Yixing looked as if he was battling inner demons as he pursed his lips, and Jongdae smirked a little just from the constipated-looking expression. “Because...because I don’t quite want to share how you look right now.”

Jongdae felt his cheeks flushing a bit, but stomped his foot on the ground. “I just want to show Hakyeon, though, he’s not going to try to fuck me. He has a boyfriend now. And he’s like my parent.”

“He has a boyfriend?” Yixing questioned, and then shook his head. “No, no, please don’t--” Jongdae reached for the doorknob and Yixing shot his hand out to put on top of Jongdae’s, staring at him. “Hey! Jongdae, listen, if Kris sees you, he might...he might make you dress like that...” Yixing trailed off, and Jongdae blinked at him a couple times, a slow smile growing on his face.

“Really? And that would suck, wouldn’t it.” Jongdae grinned. He didn’t think it would be too bad, especially not if people went around complimenting him, but he could understand Yixing being possessive of him. He seemed to tend to do that, and Jongdae was finding he was a fan. He was amused. “Alright, I’ll just tell Hakyeon I looked hot in your stripper clothes.”

“He’ll like that.” Yixing gave him a toothy smile that made Jongdae’s heart hop up into his throat. He laughed and went back to the mirror, looking at himself for a few more moments before pulling the boxers down.

“I’m done with these,” he said, and he turned around to see Yixing leering at him, his eyebrows raised. He laughed at the look and moved to pull his shirt on back over his head.

“Maybe you should try working shirtless,” Yixing proposed, and Jongdae snorted.

“I’d get stuff all over me. I don’t want my skin to smell like cleaning supplies.” He picked his own boxers up and slipped them on, then tried to wrestle himself into his skinny jeans. Yixing watched him, looking entirely entertained, and smiled at him when he had all his clothes on.

“Did you get all of that out of your system?” He asked, and Jongdae chuckled.

“No, I still want to try on your clothes. But I can do it some time when we’re not supposed to be working.”

“Yeah, I have to go back out. Sorry for kicking you out.” Yixing watched Jongdae move around his dressing room, and smiled at him when their eyes met. “C’mon, we’ve just got like a half hour left. We can do it.”

“You’re right! Go dance on someone,” Jongdae said, and when Yixing opened the door to leave out of, Jongdae swatted his ass lightly. Yixing made a growly little sound that Jongdae liked the playfulness of, and he gave him a thumbs up as he watched him disappear through the curtain.

Whenever Yixing was gone Jongdae always felt tired. He sat down in Minseok’s chair once more and felt like he was melting into it, then grabbed his headphones out of his backpack to plug into his laptop. He decided to re-listen to some old songs he had written, just to try and find imperfections or anything he didn’t like. He became immersed in taking notes on his computer, and he hadn’t noticed how much time had passed until Kris came up behind him and asked him to walk around before they closed up.

Jongdae finished his rounds quickly, since there hadn’t been that much action in the club tonight, there hadn’t been a lot to clean up either. He was thankful that Chanyeol and Jaehwan usually cleaned up their bar area well enough. When he came backstage he was a little bummed to see Tao and Yixing were the only people left, since he had wanted to say goodbye to Hakyeon, but he figured he would see him tomorrow, now that he was back. The thought made him smile, even though he had been with Hakyeon all night. His friend was back. That was the best.

“You wanna come back to my place?” Yixing asked him, fully clothed and waiting around in Hakyeon’s chair as Jongdae packed up his laptop. Jongdae thought about it. He had class in the morning, but he always liked spending the night at Yixing’s place. The subway ride home in the early morning was never that much of a hassle.

And...once finals week started, he’d be seeing a lot less of his boyfriend. So it would be best to get in as much time with him as he could. Jongdae nodded and smiled down at Yixing. “Yeah, I’ll come over!”

As Jongdae was packing up, Yixing engaged Tao in a conversation in Chinese, but Jongdae didn’t hear his name at all in it, so he was unbothered. He threw his backpack over his shoulder when he was done and the pair said goodbye to Tao, making their way out through the curtain and stopping when Chanyeol started calling Jongdae’s name.

“Ahh, give me a second,” Jongdae told Yixing, going over to the bar and smiling a little bit when he felt Yixing following him. “Chanyeol, what’s up?”

“I brought my spare guitar,” Chanyeol told him, and he ducked under the bar to rummage around for it. Jongdae made an excited sound and hopped up onto one of the barstools.

“Really? Ahh, Chanyeol! I had totally forgotten about that! Thank you so much!”

“No problem,” Chanyeol called out from underneath the bar. After a moment he pulled the case out and put it on the counter, his hand stroking up and down the black box. “Please be careful with her, I mean, I know you will be. But be gentle. She was really out of tune when I dug it out of the closet, too. I tried to tune her as best I could but...” He pouted a little. “She is kind of old, so she’s not in the best condition. But she works, and to be honest, I really like the sound she gives off.”

Jongdae marveled at just the case, and had to stop himself from undoing the latches to look at the guitar right there. “It’s awesome, I love it already. Seriously, thank you so much.”

Chanyeol’s grin widened at him and Jongdae enjoyed the expression. “Of course. Make something beautiful with her. Her name is Delight.”

“I will, I promise! I’ll try to play it tonight.” He held his hand out for Chanyeol to shake and Chanyeol took it gladly. “Thank you so much. Again.” He got up from the barstool and managed to pick up the guitar case with Yixing’s help. “Ahh, hey, I got it.”

“You sure? I can carry it,” Yixing told him.

“I’m fine, thank you.” Jongdae gave one last smile to Chanyeol and Yixing waved at him. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you! Have a nice night.”

They went out onto the street and Jongdae realized how much he had grown to enjoy the sight of Yixing hopping around while trying to hail a taxi. It took them about five minutes but it wasn’t cold outside, so Jongdae didn’t mind. When a taxi finally pulled up, Yixing held the door open for Jongdae, and Jongdae grinned at him before throwing the guitar in the backseat and following it in. Yixing trailed after him and closed the door, and gave Jongdae an amused look when Jongdae told the taxi driver Yixing’s address.

  
  


Jongdae had opened the guitar chord guide he had bookmarked on his internet browser and was looking over it while Yixing took Delight out of its case on the couch. “Here, this website here shows you how to place your fingers,” Jongdae said. “I’ve memorized a lot of these but I don’t know...all of them. I know the ones that get used the most in popular music. Ah.” He looked up from his computer to Yixing sitting on the couch, and blinked at him as he watched Yixing handle the guitar.

He was shirtless and beautiful as ever, but Jongdae thought he looked even more attractive with the instrument in front of him. Yixing moved his hand to stroke the strings over the sound hole. A warm sounding chord resonated in the room, and Jongdae made a soft sound of wonder. “Chanyeol was lying, that sounds perfectly in tune to me.”

“Maybe his tuning device is broken,” Yixing said, making the sound again. He looked satisfied with himself, and then handed the guitar to Jongdae. “Here you go.”

“N...no. Wait a second,” Jongdae said, looking back at his computer, and Yixing put the guitar back in his lap.

“Come up here on the couch, don’t sit on my floor,” Yixing told him, and so Jongdae picked up his laptop and went around to the other side of the couch.

“Here. Look at this,” Jongdae said, magnifying his screen over the E minor chord. “This is simple, it just takes two fingers. Just put them on the second fret...” Yixing moved his fingers before Jongdae could explain to him what a fret was, and Jongdae made a surprised sound. “Oh. Do you know this?”

“No, I don’t know what I’m doing,” Yixing laughed.

“But you put your fingers on the right place!”

“I...this is the second row down, I just guessed.”

“You guessed right.” Jongdae grinned and pointed at the E minor chord on his laptop screen. “Put your fingers on those two strings and then strum.”

Yixing did as he was told to do, and the chord that sounded was so clear that Jongdae was shocked for a moment. “Was that right?” Yixing asked, and Jongdae nodded.

“Yeah, you did that...really well. Here, arch your fingers a little bit more,” he said, looking at the hand Yixing had pressing down on the strings, and Yixing curved his fingers a tiny bit. “Try it again.”

Yixing repeated the chord and Jongdae didn’t know where to go from there. He felt vaguely jealous. He was nowhere near as good as Yixing was when he first started playing.

“You’re really good at that.”

“This is E minor?” Yixing tried it again and nodded at the sound. “I like that.”  
“Yeah, that sounds so clear. Here, try a regular E. It’s just one more finger.” Jongdae brought it up on his computer screen and Yixing looked at it, narrowing his eyes as if he was having trouble seeing it. He moved a third finger in the right place, and remembered to arch it before Jongdae could remind him.

When he strummed it it sounded so perfect that Jongdae whined out loud. “How are you doing that?”

Yixing laughed at him. “What do you mean? I’m just looking at the chord and doing what it says!”

“But you’re so good at it! You’ve really never done this before?”

“Never. I’ve fucked around with guitars before but never with one of these chord thingys in front of me,” he motioned at the computer. “I’ve never tried playing chords before.”

“Well...you’re really good. I’m kind of jealous. It took me a couple days to even hold my fingers in the right way.”

Yixing looked pleased with himself, and sat up a little higher. “I guess I’m good at fingering.”

Jongdae chortled at this. “You are; it’s painfully apparent right now.”

“Can I play a song? Can I play something with these two chords?” Yixing played an E chord, then hesitated before switching his fingers to play an E minor. He made a quizzical face at the sound. “That sounds so...twangy.”

“Well, it’s a guitar.”

“Here, you play something for me, you know more than I do,” Yixing said, trying to hand off the guitar to Jongdae again, but Jongdae didn’t take it.

“No, I really like the way you look with it, to be honest.” Jongdae told him.

Yixing smiled at him and looked down at the guitar. “Really? I look good with it. Ahh, well. I’ve never thought about playing one of these before.”

The idea that he could teach Yixing how to play the guitar and then they could record music together popped up in Jongdae’s head and he nearly bounced right out of his seat. That was a crazy thought. That was a crazy thought that could be a _reality_ if he cared about it enough. Wow. He’d let it sit.

Jongdae sat and paid close attention while Yixing went through a few more chords, only struggling a couple times with some of the more complicated ones. He got to the G chord and attempted to maneuver his fingers the right way, and gave up after a couple tries. “This one is hard,” he said, and Jongdae smiled.

“Yeah, I always have a lot of trouble with this one, too. It’s too difficult.” Jongdae raised his hands to place Yixing’s fingers on the right frets, and smirked at the little laughing sounds Yixing made at him. “Here, try it now.”

Yixing strummed the guitar but the chord still didn’t sound right. “Ahh, damn.” He said. “Maybe I’ve exhausted my guitar prowess for the day.”

“I think that if you keep practicing, you could get really good really fast,” Jongdae told him. “You seem like you’re pretty good at it already.”

Yixing stared at the computer screen for a few moments. “You’re right. I could get this if I worked at it.”

That kind of response made Jongdae’s heart beat faster. He watched Yixing try his hand at the D chord again, and closed his eyes to listen closer. Yixing’s vaguely-weed-smelling living room sounded amazing when guitar chords were bouncing off the walls. It felt warm and familiar and he loved it, even if the guitar wasn’t the instrument he was the most used to. He opened his eyes again and couldn’t help but smile when he set them back on Yixing.

“I like this, I like the way it feels,” Yixing told him, and once again Jongdae felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest.

“Playing an instrument is really nice, isn’t it?” Jongdae asked.

“You’re right. Ahhh, my fingers hurt,” Yixing said, moving his hand off of the guitar and clenching it and unclenching it a few times. He made a pained expression at Jongdae and Jongdae smiled at him.

“It hurts at first but you get used to it. People who play guitar every day develop callouses on their fingers, I think, and that helps them play.”

“Oh, but I like my fingers so much,” Yixing sighed. “Oh well. The things I do for my art.”

Jongdae laughed out loud. “You know, people who play the guitar get _hella_ laid.”

Yixing smirked at him. “Do they get laid even more than strippers do?”

Jongdae nodded. “I’d bet so, I really would.” Yixing threw his head back in laughter and Jongdae felt proud of himself.

“Well, am I going to get laid tonight, then? Or am I too much of a beginner for my playing to turn anyone on?”

Jongdae felt his cheeks start to hurt from how hard he was smiling. “Ahh, you’ve turned me on enough already, to be honest.”

“Really?” Yixing cocked an eyebrow at him. “Am I that charming?”

“It helps that you’re almost naked.”

“Always does.”

“But you’re really good at playing the guitar and it’s only been like ten minutes so. Yeah, you are that charming.”

Yixing sat back against the couch, looking satisfied. “That pleases me. I’m glad. Am I getting laid tonight?”

“Not when we’re playing on Delight,” Jongdae told him, and immediately Yixing moved to put the guitar back in its case. Jongdae snorted a laugh and stood up, and Yixing closed the guitar case without latching the locks. He hopped up onto his feet and grabbed Jongdae’s hand, taking him over to his bedroom.

“What’s taking you?” Yixing asked Jongdae as he hesitated in the doorway to the bedroom, staring wistfully over at the couch and the guitar sitting on it. His heart felt full, like it was going to overflow and spill out all onto the floor. Yixing grinned at him and pulled him inside. “C’mere.”

 

 


	22. jongdae is sort of stressed out and tao breaks a chair

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi all!!! sorry for the hiatus, i was in college and it was difficult to work on this, but i'm on winter break now so i have some time to write;; i hope you enjoy! ;w;

Jongdae woke up in his dorm room on the Monday a week before finals started, and sighed heavily just seeing the sunlight streaming in through his window. Half of his professors had decided that a week before finals would be a great time to assign projects, even though the school had no classes in session during finals week for the sole purpose of giving students time to finish projects. Whatever. If his professors wanted to be difficult, he would find a way through it. He only had two weeks left here in the city, anyway.

He turned off his alarm and pondered the thought. Shit, he’d be going home to DC in two weeks, wouldn’t he? It was probably time for him to book a ticket for a Vamoose bus back home. He...he would probably have to tell his boss about this. He was a little bit worried he’d lose his job but then when he thought about it again, that sounded stupid. Kris was nicer than a regular person, he’d probably just wait around until Jongdae came back.

Jongdae managed to push himself out of bed to brush his teeth, then shuffled off to class, feeling the same level of half-asleep all day. He attempted to wake himself up around noon for his electronic composition class with a coffee drink he brought from the dining hall, and found it easier than anticipated when his professor passed around their final assignment. He was able to keep himself from bitching about having more work to do when he read further down and saw that his assignment was to write an EP. That was only three to five songs, he could do that easily...he figured. If he got too cocky it would probably end up sounding like shit. Ahhh, damnit. An assignment to write music. This was going to consume him for a while.

_ Three to five songs that give the impression of a place _ . That was easy enough. He didn’t want to focus on New York City, because how cliché, and half the class would probably end up doing that anyway. He could do his dorm room, if he wanted to write something gray and lonely. Maybe he would try to focus it on the city he grew up in? But he had been away from it for so long, he saw his future self not liking the product because of that. If he wanted to write music about DC, he’d wait until he was there.

He wanted to start brainstorming ideas, but choosing a place proved more difficult than he thought. The project prompt swam through his head all day, weighing the pros and cons of writing about every place he ended up that day, until he was on the subway that night on his way to go to work. The thought that someone else in his class would base their EP off of the subway was ringing in his head until it dawned on him that he was on his way to a  _ gay strip club _ and holy shit that was bizarre, wasn’t it? Nobody else in the class was going to write about that for sure.

He burst out laughing in his seat, and tried adjusting himself when he noticed people turning and looking at him. Absolutely not, he was absolutely  _ not _ going to write an EP about a gay strip club. He loved Galaxy but no. He didn’t even know how to begin to write strip club music, that was not his area of expertise.

He got off the subway at his stop and walked the few blocks to the club, and was immediately hit with the familiar scent of cherry and sweat. That was kind of poetic, he could write lyrics like... _ no Jongdae stop it _ . He was twenty-one, sure, but he had no idea how an EP about a strip club would be received by his professor. He just couldn’t.

He made his way backstage and noted how it smelled different than the main room, more like dust and a spicy amalgamation of everyone’s different body sprays. He had dusted back here less than a week ago, it shouldn’t be  _ dusty _ . He greeted everyone and looked around for a place for him to sit. It looked like everyone was there tonight, except for Yixing, whose station was empty. He laughed a little as he put his stuff down at it.

“Where’s Yixing?” He asked into the room, to nobody in particular.

“Is he ever on time?” Minseok responded playfully, looking at himself in his mirror as he applied something to his face. Jongdae smiled fondly and sat down in the chair. He listened to his coworkers talking amongst themselves as he set up his laptop on Yixing’s desk, and when he heard Sanghyuk’s voice join Hakyeon and Minseok’s conversation he turned around to say hi to him, but immediately broke into a laugh when he saw the huge technicolor bodysuit Sanghyuk was in.

“You’re covered in tassels!” Jongdae laughed, looking over the hundreds of little tassels that hung off of Sanghyuk’s shirt. Jongdae noticed Hakyeon grinning and Minseok shaking his head as Sanghyuk looked down at his arms, moving them a little and making the tassels shake.

“It’s art. I’m bringing a little color to this scene.”

“Was it Jaehwan’s idea?”

Sanghyuk’s head fell back as he laughed. “No.”

“Well, he’s gonna love it. Where did you even find it?”

“I found it in a costume shop near Times Square, and I just, I just couldn’t not. I’m gonna take it off anyway so it’s not even the focal point. Just something for the show.”

“That’s awesome, hahah. I hope you get extra tips.”

“Me too!”

Jongdae turned back to his laptop and logged into it, sighing a little as he blinked at the screen. He probably shouldn’t be thinking about his composition project at work but he couldn’t help it. He felt like he was going to end up writing an EP about the club...but maybe just hide it under the guise of something else. He could pretend it was a bar or something. There  _ was _ a bar there. It would work.

He could do seedy bar music. That was fun. Galaxy wasn’t  _ seedy _ per se but it had its share of seedy customers, at least. He could draw from that and just run with it. He opened his music program, reaching into his bag for his headphones so he could work on some kind of bassline. He didn’t have his keyboard at work with him, but he could at least come up with some kind of skeleton and work out the kinks later.

He had no idea how long he had been working on the bassline for, but when he felt a body pressing up against the back of his neck he jumped a little and took his headphones off. He turned around to see Yixing smirking at him, and let out a sigh of relief, laughing softly. “Ahh, you scared me.”

“What, you thought some drunk guy had wandered back here and was humping your neck?” Yixing leaned down to kiss him and Jongdae welcomed him, kissing him back easily and wrapping his arms around Yixing’s neck.

“Yeah, something like that. I didn’t know what your  _ intentions _ were. You’re late, y’know.”

“Nobody fuckin’ cares, I don’t go on for another hour anyway.” He put his bag down on the floor and then wandered over to the other side of the room, looking for something. Jongdae watched him for a while and looked around the room, noticing how many of the strippers had cleared out. They were probably either outside working or in the dressing rooms getting ready. he smirked a little at Yixing’s nonchalance, but the expression faded when he saw Yixing picking up a chair and bringing it over to where he was.

“Oh, no, you don’t have to do that! Here, this is your seat, isn’t it? It was the only one open when I got here,” Jongdae said, standing up from Yixing’s spot and motioning at it. 

Yixing just shook his head and parked the chair he stole down near Jongdae’s. “‘S fine, don’t worry about it. It looks like we’ll be busy tonight so we don’t have a lot of use for these chairs.” He sat down in it and started to kick off his shoes, and Jongdae smiled breathlessly, sitting down as well.

“How’s your day been? We didn’t talk a lot.”

“It was good, I saw some friends earlier.” Yixing reached a finger into his mouth and started picking at something in his teeth as if there wasn’t someone staring directly at him. “We just hung out, kinda slow but you know me, that’s what I like.”

“That’s good, I’m glad you had fun today.”

“Are you still crying about projects?”

Jongdae identified with the question so much that he couldn’t even roll his eyes at Yixing for implying that Jongdae was crying. “Ugh, I got a new one today, do you believe it? I guess it’s nice that my professors are giving me the prompts early, so I have more time to work on them, but shit, I have so much to do.”

“Awwh, the poor thing,” Yixing mocked him, and this time Jongdae rolled his eyes, turning back to his computer.

“It’s so stressful.”

“I’ll bet. Well I’ll try to pop back here as much as I can to distract you, mm? But I think I’ve got my work cut out for me tonight, aaaagh.” Yixing picked his bag up again and moved towards the dressing rooms, stopping to reach out and ruffle Jongdae’s hair gently before going down the hallway. Jongdae smiled happily in his direction and let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding when Yixing left, then put his headphones back in.

He tried writing a little bit more and found it sounding kind of repetitive, so he played back everything he had written so far to criticise himself. It sounded okay, for a rough draft, but the tempo started getting faster near the end and he didn’t like that. He cut out the last fifteen seconds and sighed. He wanted his keyboard to help him smooth things out.

Jongdae worked on the song for another hour, until he had a good solid minute that he didn’t entirely hate. It would sound better with all of his instruments, he kept telling himself, and he took the headphones out of his ears so he could look around the room. There were a few more people sitting around this time, one of them Hakyeon, who he was most excited to see. “Hakyeon,” he called out, unplugging his headphones from his computer.

“What’s up, baby?” Hakyeon asked, looking up a little bit from his phone.

“Can I play for you something I just whipped up?” Jongdae picked up his laptop and got ready to stand, then looked around at the other people around them. “Is that okay, uhh, if I play something? It’s really short.”

“That’s fine,” Minseok told him, and Hoseok seemed so absorbed in his phone that he didn’t notice. Jongdae brought his laptop over to Hakyeon’s desk and set it down, pressing the spacebar and then grumbling to himself when that didn’t start the music.

“Sorry, that usually works...” he brought his fingers to the trackpad and turned the song on. He stood around awkwardly as it played, unsure of what to do in this situation. He grabbed the chair Yixing had stolen and brought it over, plopping himself down in it and tapping his foot against the ground to give him something to do. Hakyeon stared intently at the laptop as he listened to the song, and the concentrated expression on his face made Jongdae even antsier. 

“What’s that face for?” Jongdae tried to ask, but Hakyeon hissed at him to be quiet.

“I’m listening!” Hakyeon exclaimed, as if he was outraged that Jongdae would even try to talk to him right now, and Jongdae chuckled a little.

A few seconds before the song ended Yixing burst into the room through the curtain like a rocket, and distracted Jongdae both with his strange movement and his shirtlessness. He grinned a little when he saw Jongdae looking in his direction, and sauntered over to them. “Whatcha doing?”

“I’m playing Hakyeon a song I just wrote,” Jongdae said, and then looked over at Hakyeon. “What did you think?”

“Play it again, I wanna hear it,” Yixing bounced on his toes a little, and Jongdae sighed softly as he pressed a button on the keyboard to make the song play again.

“I thought...well, you just put this together, right?” Hakyeon asked, and Jongdae nodded. “I thought it was a good start! Really low-key, the bass is really nice, kind of there all the time and...persistent, I don’t know. The whole thing was kind of soft. Like something you’d hear in the background when you’re supposed to focus on something else?” Hakyeon cringed a little, as if he regretted what he had just said. “I’m sorry, is that rude?”

“No, no, not at all! That’s kind of what I was going for, actually.” Jongdae smiled at how Hakyeon’s expression softened. “Something background-y.”

“Play it for me again when it’s finished,” Hakyeon told him, and then turned his body a bit so he could observe Yixing jiving around to the beat coming out of Jongdae’s laptop. “What in the world are you doing?”

“I’m dancing,” Yixing responded, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He let his hips lead his body to the beat of the bass coming from the speakers, and Jongdae cracked a little smile as he watched his boyfriend move around. “Oooh,” Yixing vocalized to himself when a soft synth rose up in the song, and he raised his arms in wavy motions. “This is cool.”

Jongdae laughed out loud, leaning over to turn the volume up on his laptop a bit. As the volume increased Yixing hopped on his toes a few times then continued dancing, and Jongdae laughed even harder. “Ahh, you’re really goofy tonight!”

“I can’t help it, not when the music is in me! Don’t make fun of me!” Yixing laughed back at him, not skipping a beat and continuing to slide around the floor on his heels. Jongdae found himself entranced by the way Yixing moved to the song he wrote, then blinked.

“You move very fluidly,” Jongdae told him.

“Thank you, I’m a dancer,” Yixing said casually.

“Are you making all this up just now?”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m kind of repeating the same thing over and over again,” Yixing laughed at himself.

“No, don’t say that, it’s really, really cool. Especially since it’s to something I wrote.” Jongdae blinked again, then his mouth fell open a tiny bit as he realized something. “Wait. If I wrote something, like, in particular, for you, you could dance to it?”

“Sure,” Yixing told him, and a thousand bells went off in Jongdae’s head. He had never held such dangerous power before. Whoa. He wondered what kind of dance Yixing would put on for the entire EP of strip club-sounding music, and decided not to think about it any longer before he flustered himself. The song ended and Yixing froze where he was, his brow furrowing as he stared at the wall and then his expression relaxing into a smile as Hakyeon started to clap at him.

“You’re such a weirdo,” Hakyeon told him as Jongdae got up to put the song on again.

“Am not! Ahh, it’s back,” Yixing said, mimicking a little robot movement before starting to dance again. Jongdae cracked a smile and was content to just sit there and watch him move.

“Do a backflip,” Hakyeon encouraged, and Yixing barked out a laugh at him.

“I can’t do that.”

“Not with  _ that _ attitude, you can at least try.”

“No, seriously, I’d probably hurt myself,” Yixing said, twirling around and then stopping on his heel when he saw the curtain being thrown back. His eyes widened a bit and he made a goofy, upset face at Jongdae as Tao dragged Sehun in through the curtain by his arm, Sehun whining at him loudly.

“Let me go, let me go!” Sehun shouted, and Hakyeon clucked his tongue at him.

“Sehun, baby, keep your voice down, we’re backstage.”

“What are you guys fighting for?”

“I caught him flirting with that fucking pervert again!” Tao scowled, speaking loudly as if Hakyeon hadn’t just scolded Sehun for the same thing. He pointed an accusatory finger in Sehun’s direction and Sehun knocked it out of the air as he stormed by Tao on his way to his station.

“Leave me alone.”

“Who’s that?” Jongdae asked Tao.

“Junmyeon!”

“Junmyeon’s not a per--” Jongdae stopped himself mid sentence because as soon as it was leaving his lips he realized it was not true. “Tao, you don’t have to pick on him for that.”

“Sehun’s allowed to flirt with whoever he wants, it’s kind of our job,” Hakyeon said, rubbing at his eye with a finger and then scowling at himself for messing up his makeup.

“I don’t like it. Junmyeon’s creepy and Sehun shouldn’t be messing around with him,” Tao groaned, and Jongdae saw Yixing slinking over to his chair in some attempt to avoid the crossfire. Jongdae smirked a little at him then turned his expression back to Tao.

“You shouldn’t be so mean just because you have a bad impression of Junmyeon.”

“If Sehun likes him then he’s allowed to talk to him, it’s really none of your business,” Hakyeon added, his face close to his mirror because he was fixing his eye makeup.

Tao growled softly at the resistance he was facing, then reached out and swatted the air in Sehun’s direction when he noticed the smirk Sehun was shooting him. “Don’t look at me like that! These guys are fucking insane tonight, you know I’m right. Sehun, he’s drunk and he’s gross and I don’t like it.”

“He’s not gross, and he’s not even drunk right now. Let me do what I want, Tao. You’re not my fucking mom.”

“Your mom would be even  _ more _ pissed at you for flirting with that guy.”

Sehun snorted a little. “You’d be surprised.”

“Don’t fucking be smart with me, Sehun!”

“Taaaao, stop being such a douchebag,” Hakyeon groaned, sounding exhausted of the fight already. Tao squawked and took a few steps closer to him.

“I thought you didn’t like Junmyeon either, where the hell did that go?”

Hakyeon eyed Tao carefully before speaking. “Sometimes people grow up and get over things, it’s really not that uncommon.”

Tao rolled his eyes at this response, then went over to the other side of the room, motioning at Yixing. “Well you don’t like him, at least, shit!”

“Nooooo no no no no, keep me away from this,” Yixing grunted, lifting his legs up and hugging them to his chest in an attempt to get further away from Tao without moving his chair. Tao waved both hands at Yixing to bother him and Yixing knocked them away.

“I know you don’t like Junmyeon, don’t lie! Tell Sehun why!”

“I don’t know  _ what _ you’re talking about,” Yixing replied, so melodramatic that Jongdae laughed out loud. Tao whipped his head around to look at him, then looked back to Yixing.

“Tell Sehun about how gross he is!”

“Honestly, Tao,” Yixing groaned, his eyes avoiding everyone’s, “Junmyeon’s just kinda there. He’s not so fucking awful like you’re making him out to be, if you just ignore him he leaves you alone. He leaves  _ me _ alone so I don’t have much to say about him.”

“That’s total bullshit and you  _ know _ it,” Tao glared at Yixing, who avoided the look.

“I wish  _ you’d _ leave me alone, damn, we should all strive to be more like Junmyeon,” Yixing intoned, and Sehun laughed airily.

“Tao’s just insane, yaah, I don’t even care.” Sehun huffed, then looked in Tao’s direction. “I like Junmyeon and I’m gonna hit on him and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“You’re gonna fucking regret it, and I don’t want to hear you crying at me, because I won’t give a damn.”

“Tao, you’re being so frickin’ mean right now, like meaner than usual,” Yixing told him.

Tao lifted a hand to motion at Sehun, frowning in Yixing’s direction. “Do you not remember when Jongin came back here fucking purple all over because Junmyeon bit him? Sehun doesn’t need that bullshit!”

“That’s really none of your business, dude!”

“Sehun’s like fucking nineteen and he doesn’t-- aaagh you guys are being so willfully  _ stupid! _ ” Tao kicked one of the legs of Jongdae’s chair out of pure frustration, and Jongdae made a soft yelping noise as he realized the chair split beneath him and he was tumbling to the ground. He landed uncomfortably on his ass on the floor, a little shocked but unharmed, and he looked up at Tao helplessly.

“What was that for?!”

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I didn’t think the chair was gonna br--” Tao started, but was cut off when Yixing grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.

“What the  _ fuck _ are you doing?! You’re such an asshole--”

“I didn’t know the chair was going to break, I’m sorry, really! I wasn’t trying to hurt Jongdae, oh my god!”

“Baby, are you okay?” Hakyeon helped Jongdae to his feet and Jongdae couldn’t help but let out a shaky laugh.

“Yeah, I’m totally fine. I just wasn’t expecting that.”

“These cheap as fuck chairs, Jesus Christ, Kris,” Yixing scowled and then grabbed Jongdae’s wrist, pulling him back over to his station. “Here, just sit down, I’ll get another.”

Jongdae did as he was told and looked over his shoulder to watch Tao, a little amused by the very nervous waver in his previously confident voice. “Whose chair is that, Yixing?”

“I dunno, I took it from over there, it’s probably Mark’s,” Yixing said as he shamelessly stole another chair to bring over.

Jongdae frowned at him. “Yixing, stop taking chairs from people, I can just--”

“Ahh, Mark’s gonna kill me,” Tao worried out loud.

“--ask Kris to get me my own chair.”

“I’ll do it when he comes back here to look at the property damage his boyfriend just made.”

“Where is he?”

“I dunno, he’s probably out on the floor watching people, we’re kinda packed tonight.”

“There’s actually a ton of people out there tonight, it’s crazy.” Hakyeon added, in an attempt to steer the conversation away from the madness that had just occurred. “I guess because there was nobody here last week because of Easter. Everyone’s done being good Christians and they’re here to get it all out, god bless.”

Jongdae laughed. “Well, that’s good! Business is always good. I’m surprised I haven’t been called to the bar to clean something up.”

“Don’t jinx yourself, now,” Yixing told him.

“Hakyeon,” Taekwoon’s whisper of a voice piped up, and several heads in the room turned to look at him. He seemed a little startled by the movement but tried not to pay attention, still looking at Hakyeon. “You’re supposed to go on soon.”

“Ohh, shit, is it almost eleven already? Wow,” Hakyeon said, getting up from his chair and going over to Taekwoon. “Thank you, baby, such a good stage manager.”

Taekwoon gave him the tiniest of smiles as the two turned towards the stage entrance, and it made Jongdae smile a little too. Boyfriends were nice. His boyfriend had tried to protect him, and that was nice. Having Yixing around was really cool.

And Yixing dancing to his music was actually the  _ coolest _ . He was more excited than ever to get home to his keyboard so he could write something fantastical for Yixing to move to. That seemed like the kind of thing Yixing would want to dance to, so he could manage that. If he could fit it into his project theme, then it would be even better.

Maybe he could get his boyfriend to take him to an actually seedy bar for research purposes. Jongdae thought he could do it by himself, but it would be a lot more fun with Yixing by his side, and he didn’t really know where any good bars were anyway.

“Hey,” he raised his voice to get Yixing’s attention. “Can you take me to a bar? I have to do research.”

Yixing smirked a little at the proposal, amused. “Of course. Y’wanna go after work?”

“Oh, no, not tonight. I guess I figured some night you have off.”

“Don’t you have a lot of finals?”

“Ohh, you’re right.” Jongdae blinked. “We can just do it after...” he trailed off, remembering that after his finals he’d be on his way home to DC. That threw a wrench in things. “We’ll figure it out.”

“Alright, just bring it up again, because I’m bound to forget,” Yixing told him, then stood up. “I need to get ready, if Hakyeon’s going on then it’s probably my turn soon.”

Jongdae snorted softly at this. “What, are you just guessing?”

“For most of my life, yeah. I’ll be right back,” Yixing shot him a tiny smile, and Jongdae squealed inside at the little dimple that appeared before Yixing disappeared off into the hallway. He sighed softly and went over to Hakyeon’s station to grab his laptop and bring it back to Yixing’s place.

“Jongdae, seriously, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean that at all,” Tao tried apologizing again, and Jongdae laughed.

“No, it’s fine, I know you weren’t trying for that. it was funny, wasn’t it?”

“It was,” Sehun called out, a smile in his voice, and Jongdae grinned bigger.

“See? So it was worth it. I just don’t want to be here when Kris sees it.”

Tao groaned at the thought and Jongdae brought his laptop back to Yixing’s station, setting it down on the counter and hesitating before opening it. He glanced over at Sehun, who was glued to his phone with his feet propped up on his counter, looking much more relaxed than before. Jongdae smiled a little to himself before hopping chairs over to the one near Sehun’s.

“Hey, Sehunnie,” he said to get his attention, and Sehun looked over.

“Yeah?”

“You’re flirting with Junmyeon?”

Sehun smirked a little. “Yeah, I am.”

“Good. Keep doing that, I like that,” Jongdae told him, trying to make it sound as normal as possible. Sehun barked out a laugh and grinned at him, giving him a thumbs up, and Jongdae took that to mean it was received well. He moved back over to Yixing’s chair and looked at the music file he had left up on his laptop.

He didn’t feel like fussing with this anymore, he realized, so he minimized it and tried to distract himself. He had gotten about five seconds into Facebook when he heard Kris’ voice enter the room, saying something about how Taekwoon had told him something broke, and Jongdae stood up, wanting to leave. He had a feeling voices were about to be raised and he didn’t feel like sticking around for it, no matter how huge the grin on Sehun’s face appeared to be as Jongdae glanced at him before heading down the hallway to the dressing rooms.

He stopped by Yixing’s first, because he didn’t know where he was going in the first place. He found it amusing how Yixing changed clothes with the door wide open, but then figured it was a strip club after all and who gave a fuck. He stood in the doorway watching having trouble with the zipper on his pants and then let out a little laugh. “Need help?”

Yixing turned to look at him and then scoffed. “No, I got it, this zipper just--- it sticks sometimes.” He jostled it under his hand, hopping up into the air a few times and making Jongdae laugh. Apparently jumping in the air helped and Yixing patted it, then looked over at Jongdae. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just wanted to, I dunno, see you off.”

“Ahh, so sweet. I’m lucky.” Yixing stepped up to him and pecked Jongdae on the lips quickly, then grinned. “How many strippers can say they get a kiss before they go onstage, huh?”

“Probably a lot of them, and they’re all in this building, since a lot of the guys working here are dating each other.”

“Shut up, let me have this! Go fucking mop something, you dork!” Yixing laughed as he passed Jongdae on his way out of the room.

Jongdae grinned in his direction, watching him go until there wasn’t anything to look at. This was nice. He really liked having a place where he felt comfortable and enjoyed everyone’s company most of the time. His coworkers could be kind of wild but they were entertaining, at least. They took his mind off of how stressed out he felt and that’s what he needed. He could manage finals, as long as he could get Yixing to a bar and not distract himself with only writing music for Yixing to dance to. A full album of that would have to wait until he was done.


	23. (AN) there's a sequel!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ((sorry for bumping this old fic up, i wanted to reach the subscribers djsjdsjds))

hello friends ♡ it’s kinda weird to get a notification from here, isn’t it? it’s been almost exactly two years since i last updated this fic. however, i spent a lot of that time still working on this AU, since i love the characters a lot and they’re endlessly fun to write.

so i update this fic to let you know there’s a new one! i participated in national novel writing month last november and i wrote a ton of words, all intended to be a sequel to this fic, _i never can relax_ . it’s a continuation of this fic, but it takes place three years after _i never can relax_ , if i have my math correct. (the world in this fic left off in 2014 i think.) and don’t worry, it’s xingdae as fuck.

regardless, i tried to write it so it would be understandable even if you hadn’t read i never can relax. i don’t know how well i did that lol, but hey, that doesn’t matter since if you’re reading these words right now you’ve probably read this fic ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ and that makes you my incredibly wonderful and appreciated reader. thank you thank you thank you for clicking on this link.

if you read and liked this fic, i hope you’ll check out _[a teaching game](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13259886/chapters/30335943) _ to see what 2017-era scau xingdae and friends are up to, and to see what i’m about to put them all through. this AU has a ton of characters in it and i try to include as many as possible, but jongdae and yixing are the main focus of course.

so yes! there’s a new fic in this series live on my account right now! thank you so much for all your love and support for this fic, because without you i wouldn’t have kept it going. i hope this is a good enough new year present for you, i really wanted to do something for you, since you’ve given me confidence these past few years. thank you thank you, i hope you enjoy yixing trying to teach jongdae how to dance. ♡


End file.
